Tuesday, May 5, 2026

PUSD Board to Take Up Final Layoff Resolutions Thursday

Trustees will consider terminating 61 named certificated employees and laying off 246 classified workers ahead of a May 15 state deadline

[UPDATED] The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education will meet Thursday to finalize workforce reduction for the 2026-27 school year that terminates 61 named certificated employees (teachers, administrators, speech pathologists, nurses, counseling staff, and other credentialed educational staff) and lays off 246 classified workers (the custodians, recreation aides, security officers, social workers, gardeners, computer technicians and noon aides who keep schools physically running).

The Board is authorized to cut up to 161.35 full-time-equivalent certificated positions, but is acting on far fewer.

The vote, set for a 5:30 p.m. special meeting in the Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room at 351 S. Hudson Ave., is the last step required under California law to complete the cuts proposed in February.

Education Code section 44955 requires the Board to take final action and notify affected certificated employees by May 15; section 45117 imposes the same deadline for classified employees.

The district has cited a structural budget deficit of more than $30 million and pressure from the Los Angeles County Office of Education to reduce expenditures. Pasadena Unified serves Pasadena, Sierra Madre and Altadena.

In a written message to the school community ahead of the earlier authorizing vote, Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Blanco called the layoffs “among the most difficult decisions any school system can face.”

The two resolutions before the Board on Thursday — No. 2878 covering certificated staff and No. 2879 covering classified workers — finalize preliminary layoff actions adopted in February.

Resolution 2878 authorizes the termination of up to 161.35 full-time-equivalent certificated positions and lists 61 named employees, beginning with the most junior by seniority. Of 91 certificated employees who received preliminary notices on or before March 15, 61 submitted both a Request for Hearing and a Notice of Participation. Thirty-seven waived their right to a hearing under a Settlement Agreement, two waived outright, and 22 will not receive a final reduction-in-force notice under a Side Letter. The Board is asked to ratify both the Settlement Agreement and the Side Letter, with their terms incorporated into the resolution.

The 61 named employees on the final layoff list total approximately 59.15 full-time-equivalent positions.

Resolution 2879 reaches further into the schools’ daily operations. The classified positions to be eliminated include 17 custodians, 64 Project Aide I/Recreation positions, 17 Project Aide I/Behavioral Assistants, 15 Project Aide II/Behavioral Assistants and 17 noon aides. The cuts also include 10 computer repair technicians, nine district security officers, seven gardeners and five clinical social workers, among other categories. Of the 238 classified employees who received preliminary notices on or before March 15, 37 timely submitted a Request for Hearing; 29 of those did not timely submit a Notice of Participation, and eight withdrew their requests.

United Teachers of Pasadena President Jonathan Gardner, in a Feb. 23 guest opinion published by Pasadena Now, said the layoffs would strip “fundamental student support” from schools — including school social workers, counselors, librarians, nurses, custodians, tech support, attendance clerks, community assistants and security personnel.

Board President Tina Fredericks, after the Feb. 26 vote, framed the action as “a starting point of a new chapter” for the district.

Both resolutions provide that affected employees will be afforded reemployment rights under the Education Code, “if and when reemployment is offered and to the extent any reemployment rights are applicable.” Resolution 2878 also authorizes the Superintendent or designee to rescind final layoff notices if attrition creates a vacancy before an employee’s last working day prior to July 1, in a service for which there is need and adequate funding, with rescissions made in order of seniority.

Certificated terminations would take effect at the close of the 2025-26 school year, with the last working day prior to June 30. Classified terminations would take effect with the last working day prior to July 1.

If approved, final notices must be issued on or before May 15.