Friday, September 11, 2026

Fourth Year in a Row, Pasadena Unified Seeks a Pass on a State Classroom-Pay Rule

Pasadena Unified School District trustees voted Thursday to seek an exemption from California’s 55% classroom-pay minimum, which one trustee said the District also missed in two years without Eaton Fire costs.

The vote lets staff prepare the Fiscal Year 2025-26 waiver application. Chief Business Officer Arik Avanesyans said it cannot be filed with the Los Angeles County Office of Education until the 2025-26 audit issues a finding, expected in late November or early December.

A similar 2024-25 request remains unapproved, he said.

Including fire spending, the District reached 50.452% on the requirement, which counts classroom teacher and instructional aide salaries and benefits.

Avanesyans initially said removing fire costs would have brought the District to 55%.

Questioned by Trustee Kimberly Kenne, he agreed that removing fire costs alone would still fall short without also excluding about $3 million in other grant money. Kenne said this is the fourth request in four years and that two of those years had no fire costs.

Avanesyans told another trustee the waivers did not stem only from the fire, tracing them to COVID-19 revenue and spending.

He said the formula takes everything in Fund 01, the operating fund where the District chose to record fire revenue and spending.

“When that money came in, the decision was made to keep it in fund one and account for it in fund one,” he said, adding that a separate fund would have kept it completely out of the calculation. He did not say who at the District made the decision.

Trustee Scott Harden estimated compliance would cost about $1 million without fire costs. With them, he said, denial would force more than $11 million in unbudgeted 2026-27 spending.

“I wish I could vote no on this, but in good conscience, I’m concerned about doing that and its impact on our long-term stability,” Harden said.

Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Blanco said her preferred strategy is paying classroom staff more, which the District cannot do while spending beyond its means.

“We do need to spend more money on their salaries and that will correct the problem,” she said. She said the calculation excludes supplies, books and agency aides.

Earlier, debating the unaudited actuals, Board President Tina Fredericks noted that “we haven’t given our teachers and staff raises for a couple years.”

Public speaker and United Teachers of Pasadena union official Jonathan Gardner opposed the waiver, citing past audit findings over figures that “shouldn’t actually have been subtracted to make that 55% happen.”

Fredericks said about 31% of unified districts statewide also fall short. Kenne, who backed the waiver, urged the District to “try and be maybe one of the 70%.”

The Board approved the waiver request by a show of hands; no tally was announced.