Budget, Charter Schools, & Pride Month

HUSD Budget Still On The Rocks

During the July 30th HUSD Board meeting, the Board of Education received an update on the District’s fiscal outlook. While there appeared to be good news from the State budget, additional salary and benefit costs will push the District into the red within 2 years. Amy Nichols, the Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, said that they will need to develop another fiscal solvency plan later this year.

Good News And Bad News

According to Ms. Nichols, the new State budget includes much-needed funding for HUSD. These include $1,200,000 per year for three years from the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant, $4,900,000 from the Student Support Discretionary Block Grant, and an additional $900,000 per year plus Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for TK Staffing. However the District insists that no new expenses will be recommended for the grants.

Offsetting the new revenue are additional costs the Business Office discovered. This included $2,300,000 per year for the next 2 years in increased salary and benefits costs. “Hopefully we’ll be able to offset those costs,” Ms. Nichols said. But as of now, the extra cost will push the District into a negative reserve balance by FY 27/28—even with an additional $2,100,000 per year from the State.

Ms. Nichols said that the District was close to balancing the budget. “We’re close,” she said, “And I am cautiously optimistic that we will be able to find some budget savings… that will again bolster these numbers.” In order to do that, the District is already planning a new fiscal solvency plan—all of the measures from the previous one have been implemented already.

The new Fiscal Solvency Plan will be developed in late September and approved in February of 2026. In the meantime, the Business Office is trying to get a clearer picture of what’s needed. “With a target amount for what we need for budget reductions or increases in revenues,” Ms. Nichols said.

Some of the issues that the Business Office is focused on include: budget development and monitoring, tightening charter school oversight, making position control “as tight as can be”, and containing costs in Special Education. Ms. Nichols stressed that—following the recommendation from Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team (FCMT)—the District is committed to “strengthening our systems.”

But What About Closing Schools?

Trustee Oquenda opened Board remarks by signaling she was open to the idea of closing more school sites throughout the district. “Are we entertaining an audit… related to the efficiency of our schools that are currently open?” she asked. “I think this is something that is our fiscal responsibility.”

Trustee Oquenda weighed the option of school closures against more staff layoffs. “Something needs to come before the Board to give us a sense of where we are and, if we’re operating in a way that is irresponsible, that needs to be rectified.” She asked if closures might be included in the next Fiscal Solvency Plan, but Ms. Nichols spoke with caution. “[Superintendent Chen Wu-Fernandez] and I have both heard that,” she said.

But Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo seemed caught off guard. “That’s not something that’s been brought to my attention,” he said, “that we’re considering at this time.” He requested information on the last round of school closures, specifically focused on where the former students went. “I’m of the belief that perhaps a good portion of those students did not remain in Hayward schools,” he said.

Superintendent Wu-Fernandez said that closures might be a part of the future Fiscal Solvency Plan, but possibly not.

Trustee Prada asked about the Solutions Team, which was supposed to evaluate the closures and what the fallout was. However nobody seemed sure whether or not the Solutions Team still existed or had even completed a report. “It somehow fell through the cracks,” Trustee Prada said.

Trustee Rawdon asked, “Was the Solutions Team actually finally dissolved?” He couldn’t recall the last time that the Team had reported out or even met. “I remember asking that it continue,” he said, “I remember asking that.” The conversation also suggested that there was a Solutions Team and a Transition Team, though no Trustees seemed clear what had happened to either of them.

Trustee Oquenda suggested that the information from the Solutions and Transition Teams should inform the next team that gets developed. But Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo pressed for information from the two teams to be shared with the Board of Trustees—some members of the Board were not serving during the last round of school closures.

Concerns Around Special Education

When it came to Special Education costs, Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo did not mince words. “There are serious concerns in our Special Education Department,” he said. “For me… it’s a complete overhaul on how we operate in both those departments and in that space.” A surprise $30,000,000 cost overrun in Special Education was partially responsible for the $50,000,000 budget shortfall that was addressed in February.

Assistant Superintendent Nichols stressed that the Business Department is collaborating with the Special Education Department to increase oversight. The meetings and check-ins are much more regular, when previously they were only conducted once per year. Unfortunately, many of the issues date back to at least 2020, and Ms. Nichols stressed that change takes time and work simply because things were put off for so long.

Committees Upon Committees

The HUSD Board of Trustees has five members, including the Board President. The body meets at most twice a month. But according to the Committee Assignments document, the Board of Trustees also have representatives on 19 different subcommittees—at least 8 of which meet monthly during the school year on top of the regular meetings of the Board of Trustees.

The linked document above is from 24/25—the approved assignments were edited live as they were made, so there isn’t yet a public written record of the current committee assignments. Other committees were added during the meeting that the Board remembered people were attending, such as an Education City meeting at the invitation of Hayward Mayor Mark Salinas.

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo noted that the workload can be a lot and is a little unevenly distributed. “Some on our Board have a tremendous amount that they have signed up for,” he said. Trustee Oquenda said, “We sort of let ourselves get into silos.” Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo suggested looking at the committee assignments in a more holistic way to balance the load.

Charter School Conflicts

After pulling some Consent Items around approving license agreements for three HUSD Charter Schools, Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo used the items push back on the very idea of Charter Schools. “Charter Schools inherently take money away from public schools,” he said. “And when we talk about the budget constraints that we are in, it is irresponsible, in my opinion, to approve any extension—any additional lease for a Charter.”

He said that he had asked District Staff where Charter students are coming from, but Staff allegedly said that they don’t know. “I think we all know the answer,” Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo said. He seemed to imply that they were pulling students away from public schools within the district—a phenomenon supported by anecdotal evidence. “I cannot, in good faith, vote for this item.”

Trustee Oquenda expressed her support for the idea, but only to a point. “I agree… wholeheartedly on the impact of charter schools,” she said. “[I am] in complete favor of scrutinizing and doing our due diligence… [but] there are children studying here and I just have a hard time denying them the education they deserve.” She continued, “I would have denied bringing this charter… but I think we still have to value a child’s education.”

When it came to the rent charged to Charter Schools, Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo insisted it was too low. According to Assistant Superintendent Nichols, HUSD charges 3% of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) funding. However, Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo pushed for more. “It’s probably the cheapest rent in all of Hayward,” he said. But Ms. Nichols stressed that Prop 39 limits the rent to 3% of LCFF—the District is charging the maximum allowable by State Law.

Amid the discussion against Charter Schools, Trustee Prada stepped forward as an advocate. “I am pro parent choice,” she said. She pressed the District, rather than eliminating Charter Schools, to figure out why students are leaving and to fix the issues that cause families to leave for Charters in the first place. “We need to have oversight and I don’t think we do a deep enough dive to do that,” she said.

Ultimately, the Board split the vote 3:2, with Trustees Bruckner-Carrillo and Rawdon voting against approving the Charter License Agreements.

Who’s Doing The SIR Work?

The Systemic Instructional Review (SIR) is going to be worked on at the expense of the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE), but they need to hire a new employee to do it. ACOE will be paying for the work, but Trustees were concerned about what happened to the last person who had been doing the job. “There was an individual doing this work,” Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo said, “and they were included in the solvency plan.”

Multiple Trustees expressed concern about a losing progress by hiring a new person for a position which had, until June, already been filled. District Staff said that the supervisors at both the District and the ACOE were still in place, and suggested that this would be sufficient to prevent any loss of progress.

Trustee Prada disagreed. “I don’t really understand the pause in the work or the lack of opportunity for the person who was carrying the work to be rehired,” she said. “Even though there was documented success and progress.” She said that she didn’t believe keeping the same supervisors was enough, while also hinting that there may have been other reasons for removing them. “I’m going to say that it’s felt… that it’s been kind of a game and a little petty,” Trustee Prada said. “It just doesn’t seem like this process made sense.”

Pride Month In July

At the July 30th HUSD Board Meeting, the Board of Trustees passed their LGBTQIA+ Pride Month Resolution—having continued it from a June meeting. However, it was almost continued again by Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo. “[Having] nobody in the audience for your pride resolution is a very scary signal to me,” he said. He placed the blame on a lack of outreach and alleged Staff didn’t know who the partners are, “and that’s scary to me,” he said.

During the Public Comment portion earlier in the meeting, two members of the public referenced a recent Supreme Court ruling that grants parents the ability to opt out of instruction that includes LGBTQ+ themes, according to SCOTUSblog—the basis being that it interferes with children’s religious upbringing. This is largely seen as a win for anti-LGBTQ+ groups like the California Family Council, which celebrated the ruling, and a huge loss for the LGBTQ+ community.

“You heard the public comment,” Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo said, “You know what’s coming here in Hayward.” He has, during multiple meetings, expressed concern about a resurgent anti-LGBTQ+ movement within Hayward. It was previously embodied by former Trustee Joe Ramos, whose seat Bruckner-Carrillo now fills. Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo suggested holding off on voting for the resolution again until a later time.

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But Trustee Oquenda pushed back on the idea. “This is a June resolution,” she said. “You’re proposing we pass it in August. You’ve already tabled it once because the audience wasn’t what you had hoped for. I don’t think you need an audience full of people to pass it.” She then questioned Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo’s motives for the delay. “Is this about the kids or is this about having a room full of people?”

Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo explained that his motivation is to make sure that a specific position—recently vacated by Heidi Reeds—is filled before passing the resolution. “I worry we pass it today and then there is not an opportunity to talk about it again,” he said. “I just don’t want to pass a resolution that means nothing and it means nothing if your staff are not being pushed and encouraged and reminded that this is an area of focus that needs their attention.” Once the position is filled, such engagement would be that person’s responsibility.

“What better way to show staff than by passing the resolution?” Trustee Oquenda responded.

Trustee Rawdon, who initially supported delaying the resolution, later changed his mind. “I understand how you feel,” he said, “But what you’ve just described, I feel about other areas in regard to our staff as well. And it is going to be August before this comes forward, if we put it off.”

Trustee Bufete also pushed to pass the resolution, but also recognized that the work doesn’t stop there. “[I move] for us to show our solidarity,” he said. “I do agree there’s work that needs to be done.” The resolution passed unanimously.