During the September 9th Hayward Unified School District Board meeting, district staff presented on the process they'll be using to develop the next strategic plan. The compressed timeline will incorporate multiple community engagement events during the end of September before being refined by the District Advisory Committee. Some Trustees expressed concern about the compressed timeline, despite the plan being at least three years overdue, worrying about meaningful engagement and the ability to assess past success.

The Board later reviewed the unaudited actuals of the prior school year, which is one of the final steps before closing out the prior year. This is also the moment when Business Services revises the current budget to take into account any changes that have come to light since it was approved in June. The district ended with a somewhat higher final General Fund balance, and district staff said that plans for any rollover funds would be developed in the coming weeks.

Overdue Strategic Planning Starts

The last strategic plan, which covered 2019-2022, has not been revisited in a number of years due to complications from the COVID-19 lockdown. The strategic plan will provide direction for the district as it develops the multitude of other plans, including the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), annual implementation plans, and the annual budgets. To take advantage of potential synergies with other planning processes, the district is hoping to get the strategic plan approved by November 18, around three months after the process began.

The three priority areas will continue to be: Strengthening District Systems, Advancing Academic Success, and Fostering Safe and Inclusive Community Schools. Community engagement on the plan will begin tonight at Mt. Eden High School and continue until September 29th, which will be a virtual listening session for those unable to attend in-person.

Outreach is also planned for labor groups and specific parent groups like AASAI, DELAC, APICI and others. According to the presentation, the engagement will include data and reflection, guided dialogue, and input collection. Surveys will also be distributed for those who are unable to or feel uncomfortable with providing input in front of a group.

Trustees Worry About Accountability And Engagement

Trustee Sara Prada expressed concern about the expedited timeline, especially considering two new Trustees will be brough on board in January. "Are they just gonna abide by the document that the former board voted on?" she asked. Superintendent Chien Wu-Fernandez said that the new Trustees will have multiple chances to provide input on how things are implemented, even if they aren't able to drive the strategic vision.

Trustee Prada then pressed multiple times for information about what initiatives in the old strategic plan worked and didn't. She asked for measurable outcomes, what was accomplished and what happened after the old plan expired. Trustee Austin Bruckner-Carrillo also asked how the district was going to ensure that there was alignment with the other plans and if the goals were achievable.

The Superintendent said that too many initiatives overlapped with multiple goals such that it was difficult to say what definitively worked and didn't. She did, however, commit to trying to do some kind of evaluation, but was vague about when it would be delivered. "We need to do an evaluation of our current plans to figure out where we are and where we're going to go as part of the next steps," said Superintendent Wu-Fernandez.

Trustee Prada continued to push for meaningful data to be provided to parents and stakeholders during the community engagement sessions to give attendees something to "ground themselves in." Otherwise, she said, "I feel like we're going kind of blindly into the next plan." Trustee April Eljeiroudi tried to temper expectations due to complications from COVID. "We really didn't get into the strategic plan at all," she said.

Trustee Prada stressed that she preferred a longer process with appropriate assessment and reflection rather than rushing to meet an a self-imposed deadline.

Budget Update Promising For District Finances

According to the Business Services Department, HUSD closed AY 26 in a stronger position than anticipated. General Fund Revenue was over $16,000,000 higher than anticipated while expenditures were $11,000,000 lower than expected. However, this good news was complicated by the existence of both Unrestricted and Restricted General Funds, which appears to be an unusual feature of school district budgets.

For those who are unaware, Unrestricted Funding can be spent on anything while Restricted Funding--often grant funding or special government funding--is earmarked for specific purposes. The City of Hayward, by contrast, doesn't include Restricted Funds in their General Fund. Total Unrestricted Funds is only $15,500,000 which is just above the state-mandated 3% reserve balance. Meanwhile, almost $40,000,000 in Restricted Funds are set to roll over for next year.

When digging specifically into Special Education, there was some good news. Despite Federal and State funding only covering around 30% of expenses, the Special Education Department reduced expenses by almost $5,000,000 which is a huge improvement over years prior when they went over $30,000,000 over budget. According to district staff, the outlook is good but not spectacular. "We were able to end the year just a little bit better off than anticipated," staff said.

Another staff member, Arthur Cuffy, outlined the work that the Business Services department would be working on to develop the First Interim Budget Report. Mostly, the goal is to validate the plans in place, catch real changes early, and try to develop multiyear projections that are as closely aligned to reality as possible.

Budgeting Is Complicated

Trustees Austin Bruckner-Carrillo and Sara Prada expressed concern about how accessible the budgeting decisions were to the general public. As an example, the district moved Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP) funding from a separate fund (Fund 12 - Child Development) to the General Fund and then said they plan to move it back to Fund 12 again. This gave the impression of a large cash injection when, in reality, it was simply moving money around.

District staff said that Fund 12, which is earmarked for Child Development funds, had too many restrictions on it so it made more sense to move it to Restricted General Fund. However, Superintendent Wu-Fernandez said, "We will need to increase reserve when the dollars move back," hinting that they may go back into the more restrictive fund later.

Multiple public commenters also expressed concern about how complicated the different funds appeared to be, especially with complicated financial maneuvers that may obscure the true state of the district's finances. Trustee Bruckner-Carrillo ended board comments with concern about how accessible these kinds of documents can be for the community and urged staff to present things as plainly as possible for the benefit of the public.