Tuesday, October 20, 2026

After 15 Years on the School Board, Kenne Says the Hard Questions Still Need Asking

The Altadena incumbent faces a challenger in District 1 as PUSD navigates budget cuts, fire recovery and a stalled consolidation process

Kimberly Kenne has attended every Pasadena Unified School District board meeting since 2004 — first as a parent watching from the audience, then as the trustee sitting at the dais. Fifteen years into that second role, she is asking District 1 voters to send her back for a fifth term.

Kenne, who represents the West Altadena seat on the seven-member PUSD Board of Education, faces challenger Felita Kealing in the November 3 general election. The race unfolds against some of the most turbulent years in the district’s history: the aftermath of the January 2025 Eaton Fire, which struck the heart of District 1; a $24.5 million round of budget cuts approved last November; and a school consolidation review that stalled this spring after the board voted not to accept a draft equity impact analysis.

First elected in 2011 and re-elected in 2013, 2017 and 2022, Kenne is one of the board’s most senior members. In her most recent election, she received 3,400 votes — 56 percent — in a three-way race, according to results compiled by the Pasadena City Clerk. A systems integration professional by trade who worked in the finance sector before retiring, she holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Georgetown University, where she majored in finance and minored in computer science, according to her PUSD board profile.

Her path to the board began at Burbank Elementary, where her children started kindergarten. She served as a PTA president, Site Council chair, chaired the District Advisory Council, and helped found the Parent Education Network, a group that works to build family engagement in local public schools. She also completed a six-year term on the California Practitioners Advisory Group, which advises the State Board of Education on Title I and federal accountability systems, according to her PUSD profile.

In an interview with Pasadena Now, Kenne said she decided to run again because the work of holding the administration accountable is not finished.

“I ran for the board with the idea that there needs to be greater inquiry when decisions are coming forward so that we know that it’s the best decision,” Kenne said. “That if staff feels very, very strongly that something is right to do, they ought to be able to explain that and justify their reasons.”

She described her platform in two words: transparency and accountability. On transparency, she said she pushes to ensure that committee meetings are streamed, that documents are posted in accessible formats, and that financial reports are understandable to parents and community members — not just administrators.

“By accountability, I mean, really holding us accountable to the promises we’ve made to educate students and spend the taxpayer funds responsibly in order to do that,” she said.

That accountability has been tested by a fiscal crisis that has shadowed the district for years. PUSD has projected deficit spending of $156 million for the 2026-27 school year, according to the Los Angeles County Office of Education. Of that amount, $153 million is fire insurance, leaving an operating deficit of between $3 million and $4 million. Last November, the board approved $24.5 million in cuts that eliminated librarians, teachers, gardeners and school office staff, according to LAist. Kenne voted with the majority to amend the administration’s proposal, restoring some teaching positions and athletics funding while making deeper cuts to central office staff.

“Overall in looking at these cuts, I’m still not sure exactly what we’re doing wrong in our spending,” Kenne said at the November meeting, according to LAist.

In the interview, Kenne connected the budget pressure to her long-standing support for neighborhood schools. She said the challenge is ensuring that every school — not only those with magnet programs — can provide what she called a “robust academic and enrichment experience for every student.”

“That’s what we mean by putting students first,” she said. “This isn’t about, well, does everyone have a job necessarily? This isn’t about, is there a pretty looking school in every single street in the district? It’s what are we providing at the schools for the students.”

One initiative she said she is eager to advance is improving the transparency of the district’s financial reports — making them not just published, she said, but understandable. That work, she acknowledged, has been slowed by turnover in the chief business officer position and by the disruptions caused by the Eaton Fire.

Asked what she most wants voters to know, Kenne pointed to the multiple revenue streams that Pasadena taxpayers provide the district — a parcel tax, bonds and Measure J sales-tax funding from the city — and said the board’s job is to make sure those dollars reach classrooms.

“I’m willing to ask the hard questions to make sure that the district is really serving our students and families, as well as the broader community,” she said.

Kealing, her challenger, qualified for the ballot August 3 after filing her nomination papers July 29, according to the Pasadena City Clerk’s office. A PUSD graduate and parent of two PUSD graduates, Kealing lost her Altadena home in the Eaton Fire. Her campaign has emphasized schools as community hubs and strengthening partnerships between schools and the neighborhoods they serve. A separate profile of Kealing will be published by Pasadena Now.

The November 3 election will fill PUSD Board seats in Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7. Board members serve four-year terms with no term limits. The races are decided by plurality vote — the candidate with the most votes wins, even without a majority. Los Angeles County begins mailing vote-by-mail ballots October 5, voter registration closes October 19, Vote Centers open October 24 and polls are open on Election Day from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Kenne started going to board meetings six years before she ever ran for a seat. She still has not missed one.

For more, see https://www.kenneforpusd.com/