PUSD 2023-24 Year End Wrap
The first couple of weeks of June had a lot of action by the board as the year wrapped up. There were two regular meetings and two special meetings (regarding the Superintendent search). Below are my simple summaries of important items. In the coming weeks, I will address these and other issues in more depth and discuss how we can improve the District. Please reach out if you would like to discuss issues at PUSD.
Superintendent and Leadership: June brought yet another lawsuit against the District and fired Superintendent Phelps. This time from a former assistant to the Superintendent.
The board had two special meetings during the day prior to the two regular meetings. In these meetings they interviewed, selected, and began working with a search firm to find a new Superintendent. The firm will cost the District $35,000. The hasty timeline includes community input while school is out and families are on vacation, and final selection will occur in October after voting begins for two Board seats that are up for election. More on this in my next email.
Budget: Last year resulted in a loss of $20.3m. The new budget was presented and approved by the board. The result is a projected loss of $28.7m this coming year, including $12.5m in cuts. The most notable cuts are busing routes and the Xploration Program. The finalization of the CA State budget occurred after that meeting and has details that may make the short-term manageable but the long-term more risky.
Teacher and Principal Turnover: It looks like there will be eight new Principals this year. We need more longevity of our site Leaders. There looks to be 41 teachers retiring across all the schools.
Union Negotiations: The Board approved a tentative agreement with the Poway Federation of Teachers. This is highlighted by no salary increases and no changes to class-size and staffing ratios for the coming year in exchange for a three-year agreement of healthcare benefits that is very favorable for the teachers. The Board also approved an initial proposal to the Poway School Employees Association. Benefits are over 30% of total annual expenses.
Local Control and Accountability Plan: The Board approved the new three-year LCAP which outlines the goals and metrics for spending $34.7m of the year’s expenses.
Not included in any items was the proposal for a Bond Measure to fund over $185m of backlogged facilities needs. The polling was terrible and this will not be on the ballot in November. What’s Plan B?
If you got this far, thanks for reading. I will be diving into these subjects and more as the election gets closer. Subscribe below.
