27 Feb Vice Principal Reductions Not Among Approved Pittsburg School Cuts

(“Pittsburg High School” by Clotee Allochuku-Albritton / Flickr / CC BY 2.0 Attribution license)

By Samantha Kennedy

After eyeing larger cuts for the 2025-26 school year that board members said would have made reductions more equitable at the last meeting, the Pittsburg Unified School District unanimously approved $8.3 million in cuts on Wednesday night.

The lower cuts, which are part of a plan to combat a multiyear projected $20.3 million deficit, come after community members pushed back on last-minute proposed cuts to elementary vice principals.

Board president Heliodoro Moreno last week proposed four elementary vice principals be reduced instead of several lower paying jobs to increase cuts and save jobs overall. None of those positions were included in the approved cuts.

“I’ve heard at recent board meetings our district planned to support equitable practices to raise achievement in reading and math, but without a full-time VP at our sites, these plans will just be words on paper,” Staci Belleci Webb, principal at Highlands Elementary School, said at the meeting.

Less than half of the total 2025-26 cuts are to staffing, which includes eliminating four restorative justice facilitators and three suspension aides.

The $8.3 million in cuts are the first half of cuts that officials plan to make over the next two years. Superintendent Janet Schulze said the board will have to make cuts next year — at least another $8.4 million, according to PUSD’s proposal last week — unless “there’s a dramatic change in the state budget.”

Similar to other California school districts, including the West Contra Costa Unified School District, PUSD is facing the expiration of one-time COVID funding, declining average daily attendance and rising special education costs.

The drop in the district’s ADA, which is directly linked to funding a district receives, meant PUSD will lose approximately $9 million in funding over the next three years.

PUSD parents called and emailed board members ahead of the Wednesday meeting, reminding officials of the importance of the elementary school vice principals they were set to reduce.

“Having a full-time vice principal ensures: Quick intervention when conflicts arise, support for struggling students before problems escalate, a strong school culture that helps students thrive, open communication between families and school staff,” one of those letters reads.

Board member De’Shawn Woolridge, who is an assistant principal in the Oakland Unified School District and previously raised concerns with the workload of vice principals, said he couldn’t support cutting vice principals.

Some community members felt cuts needed to be made higher up before eliminating positions that worked directly with students on a daily basis.

No matter whose job was up to be cut, Woolridge said, they’d be at the dais pushing to save their job.

Board members will take action on layoff notices at the next Pittsburg Unified school board on March 12.