Mountain View Whisman trims budget by $7.4 million, more cuts may follow

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Roughly 20 district office positions, nightly custodial services and individual computers for younger students are among the multi-million dollar cuts that the Mountain View Whisman school board approved last week.  

Following months of discussions about how to address the district’s bleak financial outlook, the board voted 4-1 at a Jan. 29 meeting to trim approximately $7.4 million from the budget starting next school year. 

“We need cuts roughly of this magnitude to maintain fiscal stability,” board President Charles DiFazio said. “The longer we wait on making some of these reductions that we need to do, the deeper we’ll have to cut later on.”

District administrators came to Thursday’s meeting with $7.92 million in proposed cost savings. Board member Bill Lambert, who cast the dissenting vote, said he supported approving the recommendations as presented. The other board members, however, opted to protect four staff positions – including two at-risk support supervisors and two school community engagement facilitators – totaling about $500,000. 

Board member Ana Reed highlighted that every school community engagement facilitator is bilingual, whereas not all campus administrators are within the district. 

“With the current state of our nation, I think it’s really important that families have access to communication with their school sites and that the trust is there for them to feel like ‘I have a connection with this person. I know that my child is going to be safe attending school,’” Reed said. 

The approved reductions will result in the elimination of 26.5 full time positions, including a director of student services, a communications specialist and several teachers on special assignment. The specific number of staff members who will be laid off is still unknown, as it depends on how many employees leave on their own and the district’s ability to reassign existing staff, Mountain View Whisman spokesperson Shelly Hausman told the Voice. 

Originally, the trustees were looking to make at least $9 million in reductions starting next school year. However, during an initial review of recommended cuts in early January, board members expressed hesitation about moving forward with changes to programs such as free after-school care for low-income students, preschool, and dedicated teachers for elementary school STEAM and PE instruction. 

On Thursday, board members signaled interest in revisiting some of these previous proposals in the future, but for now, the approved list of cuts include: 

• Laying off district office staff and administrators: $3.79 million
• Reducing or reassigning student support staff: approximately $920,000
• Switching from nightly custodial services to every-other night services: $939,000
• Freezing salary increases for district leadership: $507,000
• Reducing technology in younger grades: $319,000 
• Removing the equivalent of one full-time assistant principal: $295,000

Additionally, the district may receive $660,000 in additional state funding for its Expanded Learning Opportunities Program, a free after-school offering for students who are English language learners, from low-income families or in the foster care system. The district won’t find out if this funding is approved until sometime in June, once California’s budget is finalized. 

If the additional state funding comes through, the district anticipates that operating ELOP will cost it $1 million annually. The board previously expressed concerns about eliminating the program. 

One option the district is considering is expanding Beyond the Bell – a similar after school program with a different funding source – to serve more students and replace ELOP. Administrators have applied for additional Beyond the Bell funding, and expect to hear back by Feb. 15. The state deadline to opt out of ELOP is April 15.

Considering making additional cuts in the future

District administrators had previously proposed that the board consider cutting the dedicated staff for either PE or science, technology, engineering, arts and math instruction at its elementary schools. At Thursday’s meeting, board members expressed a desire to protect the district’s current STEAM program but seemed open to learning more about what it would look like for classroom teachers to take on PE instruction. 

The district expects to save $1 million if the board were to approve cutting ties with its contracted PE provider.

The board also expressed interest in revisiting the topic of potential changes to the structure of its preschool program, a proposal that previously received a lot of pushback from community members. 

Currently, Mountain View Whisman receives money from the California State Preschool Program to provide free part-day preschool services to children from low-income families, as well as children with disabilities. Families who don’t qualify for the state program can pay for their child to attend the district’s preschool. The school district also offers full-day preschool and after school programming for a fee, with subsidized rates available for eligible families.

Board member Devon Conley reiterated her support for protecting the preschool program, noting that it serves some of the district’s most vulnerable families and is valuable for student learning. Fellow trustees Lambert and Lisa Henry, on the other hand, voiced interest in looking into expanding the district’s contract with the state to provide both full- and part-day offerings. Under this plan, the district would only enroll families eligible for the state-sponsored program.

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