Monday, November 24, 2025

Guest Opinion | School Board Trustee Scott Harden | The Next Chapter of PUSD: Embracing Opportunity Through District Transformation

Scott Harden. (Courtesy photo)

Scott Harden is a member of the PUSD Board of Education, but is speaking solely as an individual member of the Board.

This December marks my one year anniversary as the newest member of the Pasadena Unified Board of Education. As we know, a lot has happened in that time. We’ve experienced unspeakable tragedy in the wake of the Eaton Fires. We’ve had to relocate many of our students to temporary spaces and new norms. We’ve faced incredible disruption and threats from our government. And as of this last Thursday night, we’ve had to make incredibly impactful and painful cuts to our operating budget in service of a Fiscal Stabilization Plan which will satisfy the immediate requirements of the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) and keep governance control of the District firmly in our hands.

Where we go from here is entirely up to us.

To be sure, the Board’s collective action should not be the end of this story but rather the preface to the beginning of a new chapter for PUSD. A story that we, together as a community, have yet to write.

For better or worse, the community is activated and talking about PUSD. They wish to understand what happens next and where our path is headed. This fiscal crisis has given them reason to doubt our educational future and their child’s place in it.

It’s time to design a new future.

We must not squander what I see as a once-in-a-generation chance to confront the stark realities we face in public education. Equitable funding for every student has not improved. Enrollment continues to decline across the state. PUSD vigorously competes within this community for the students we have, perhaps more acutely than anywhere else in the country. And so many of us remain displaced from our homes, trying to claw back any sense of community we once had. We cannot turn away from these challenges. But we should resolve not to be defined by them any longer.

Confronting PUSD’s challenges head-on gives us a chance to put our district on a path to thrive. It is incumbent upon us as Trustees not to squander the independence these cuts have bought us. We must lead with intention to redesign a district that is financially strong, resilient and streamlined so that we can deliver opportunity to all students, especially those furthest from it.

Many of us, including a few of my colleagues, are beginning to talk about next steps on restructuring, consolidation and long-term planning. I congratulate them on their courage and commitment to stand up for what they believe is right in the face of the sensitivities our community has about such topics.

I enthusiastically encourage all of my Board colleagues and the Superintendent to come together to launch an initiative designed to transform PUSD over the years ahead, to punch through the waves of fiscal uncertainty in order to serve our students with stability and strength for as long as we can.

Let’s begin with intention.

As a strategic planner by profession, I firmly believe that any meaningful and lasting transformation process must begin without getting mired in deficit thinking, as is so common. It’s better to start by strengthening intention and embracing opportunity as a guiding light forward. Simply stated, we should create a “north star” vision that defines what we, as members of the community, want for the future of education in our community.

Let’s rally around what we’re doing well, what’s leading to meaningful, equitable improvement in student outcomes, and where we’re falling short. We need to refocus, dream of our possible future, and identify the real risks that may prevent us from getting to that hopeful horizon. To do this, we need to give everyone in the community the opportunity to participate and lend their voice so that we can build community consensus from it.

Guided by our north star, an impactful transformation plan must address fiscal sustainability, programmatic return on investment, organizational efficiency, facility assessment and community asset mapping to strengthen the partnerships that we’ll need to carry us forward. The plan must include robust evidence-based rationale, that includes operational metrics, demographic trends and best practice in comparable districts.

No one solution is the panacea to realize our vision; a blended array of restructuring solutions must be considered, which includes programmatic and operational consolidation, as well as a comprehensive plan for leveraging all of our properties to diversify and increase consistent revenue sources.

Given all that’s happened to us locally and the threats we face nationally, this is our time to write the next chapter with intention and purpose, and as a PUSD Board member, my commitment is to do what is necessary to promote, support and carry out any plan to strengthen PUSD for the long-term. I call on my fellow Board members to rise to this occasion as well — let’s set a bold new course with strength, purpose, stability and, most importantly, opportunity.

Scott Harden is a member of the PUSD Board of Education, but is speaking solely as an individual member of the Board.