One of most prominent cities in eastbay has gone broke and it is laying off teachers mean while upper administrations staffs are getting paid in millions.
Teachers spelled out their dissatisfaction on signs they held up in front of district office, as they called to stop ending program like sport and music and lot of other programs.
In a statement, the Pleasanton Superintendent David Haglund stated “I often wrestle with our State and Federal electeds on behalf of our students, families, and staff. They are failing to adequately fund our school programs, including funding a living wage for our staff.”
Haglund said the district is facing a budget shortfall of up to $5 million in the coming years and needs to plan accordingly but hopes they can reach an agreement at the mediation meeting Friday.
Superintendent and his top three assistants make up for the short fall in budgets. while they are cutting classes and packing enormous amount of student per class the district employe cross the board are receiving raises unheard of, no other schools pays its top management like Pleasanton.
The district itself acknowledges a budget shortfall: PUSD states that “Salaries, Health & Welfare Benefits, and other statutory obligations account for 85% of the District’s budget.” The city of Pleasanton is also facing a structural budget deficit. According to the city’s budget outlook: “an average budget shortfall of approximately $13 million annually for eight years.”
PUSD is preparing layoffs/staff reductions: for example, one article says the district approved staff reductions (including management and certificated positions) to save $2.2-3.3 million.
Meanwhile the Superintendent himself gets paid a mighty $1000 per hour sources say.
This budget shortfall is not based on state or federal funding is based on overpayment to upper management.
Administrators say they’re doing what they can to protect classrooms, but critics argue that spending priorities are out of touch. Some teachers have expressed frustration over high administrative salaries while classrooms face cuts, though public data has not confirmed any “million-dollar” compensation packages. Still, the perception of imbalance runs deep.
One of questions floating around Pleasanton residents is why did the district move into a lavish office from ist old office on 1st street if we have shortfall of budgets, who decided that? The new headquarters for the Pleasanton Unified School District (PUSD) — a two-building complex at 5758 & 5794 West Las Positas Blvd., in the Hacienda Business Park — was purchased for $23,480,261.
The Pleasanton Unified School District (PUSD) identified $856 million in facilities improvement needs and successfully passed a bond measure for $270 million that same year. However, this year’s potential measure would follow another, less successful, PUSD measure for $393 million that received only 52.4% of voter support in March 2020, just shy of the 55% threshold required to pass.
For the 2025-26 budget year, after the state budget revisions, the deficit in the unrestricted budget was reduced from about $7.7 million down to approximately $1.67 million, with a projected ending fund balance of about $281,000.
Cash-Flow / Interim Borrowing
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Because of timing mismatches (revenues arriving later) and low reserves, PUSD is planning to borrow up to $15 million from the county treasury to cover cash-flow needs in the 2025-26 fiscal year.
