In dramatic fashion, the embattled Board of Trustees for the Cypress Elementary School District voted down two resolutions to consider layoffs until the top certificated and administrative staff put themselves on it as potential candidates for elimination or reduction.
Due to overspending by the administration, the board has been put in a precarious position of cutting $3.3 million from the budget just to balance the budget.
The board held a special meeting on Feb. 11 to discuss the situation and the tension carried over into its regular meeting on Thursday, Feb. 12.
Tracy Mouren-Laurens, Human Resources Director, said the board must pass a resolution before March 15, including the positions being considered for elimination, even if they are eventually not cut, to be able to eliminate them.
Therefore, it was under this pressure that Trustees met to ask questions in the special meeting Feb. 11, with final action expected to come during the regular meeting Feb. 12.
Instead, the board spent another hour asking questions and only then, to loud applause, voted each of the two resolutions down 5-0, prompting staff to go back to their attorneys and “cast a wide net” with new resolutions and instructions to add themselves to it.
Contracted employees and Supt. Anne Silavs cannot be added to the list, which include three district administrators. Silavs, whose overall annual expense to the district is now approximately $350,000, can be terminated, but has a clause in her agreement that guarantees her a full year of compensation if terminated under certain conditions.
“You’re going to need a superintendent,” she told the board during the discussion, “whether it’s me or somebody else, you’re going to need one.”
During open communications, Sandy Paul, who is 80 years old and a 50-year volunteer, said her research indicated the proposed cuts “primarily affect K-6 classrooms. Two categories were barely reduced in these proposed cuts,” she said.
“One is the bloated top administrative salaries that cost the district almost $2.5 million in 2024,” Paul said. “Mr. (William) Calton, who built this district, and over three decades safeguarded the finances and always made certain its financial reserves were healthy, is spinning in his grave,” she told the board.
“I’m happy to see the board asking hard questions,” she said.Many residents and even Cypress District employees testified in open session, also expressing concern that the cuts, as proposed, were concentrated in and around the classrooms and left the administration untouched.
Trustee Troy Tanaka repeatedly expressed their concern, saying that the list of potential cuts was “bottom-up built.” “I’ve been saying this,” he said, noting that the board should be able to consider “top down,” meaning top administrators.
Tanaka expressed extreme discomfort that all of the proposed cuts were centered around employees who work closely with the students. He also said that no studies have been done to see if eliminating any senior administrative staff could be handled by reorganization.
“We can’t make a decision if we don’t know,” he said.
Board Vice President Carrie Hayashida questioned Silavs about why some of the positions were paid “above the state average.”
“All positions in Orange County are among the highest paid because of our cost of living,” responded Silavs, “so we are more highly compensated than others.”
Hayashida, then, wanted to know, “Why are our lowest-paid teachers below the state average?”
Silavs said teacher compensation is largely controlled by the Association of Cypress Teachers, the local bargaining unit, and not a function of the administration.
Elizabeth Dunagan, chief ACT negotiator, said after the meeting that the ACT negotiating team “is happy to see our school board working so diligently to resolve the financial challenges the district is facing. We look forward to working with the board moving forward to ensure that the students of Cypress receive the most robust education possible with the most dedicated staff available.”
She said the recent raises of 9% given to teachers in 2022 played no part in the district’s spending problems and did not address the teacher salaries.
ACT President Candi Earley told Spotlight Schools that “regardless of the circumstances, many educators feel they are bearing the brunt of these reductions. It is our sincere hope that the revised budget will be more favorable than expected and that the district will prioritize reinstating programs and positions that most directly support student learning.
Trustee Meghna Parikh complained that she had requested furlough information four times and still had not received it, an issue that Silavs promised to quickly remedy. In addition, she grilled Silavs and other staff about the definitions of certificated and classified staff to ensure the board was aware of all top staff capable of being added to the resolution.
“Remember, this is casting a wide net,” said Board President Lydia Sondhi, Ph.D., “if services need to be reduced, or eliminated on both resolutions. It doesn’t mean that we are going to be cutting any positions specifically,” she noted.
“We have two options,” she said, “either to go ahead and cast that wide net, put everybody on the list, or we decide to go an alternative route and find other ways of cutting money from the administration.”
Trustee Jaime Needham suggested the board just put them all in and vote.
“I don’t think we’re going to be able to make a decision…I know we’re not going to be able to make a well-informed decision tonight,” said Needham, “we need a lot of time.”
“Looking at everybody who we are speaking about, certificated and classified administration, and technically, we don’t have a legal requirement to have anybody under a specific heading…so if that’s the case, can’t we just, in the spirit of casting a wide net, put everybody on the list and vote on it?” she asked.
Sondhi called for a vote, and the board unanimously voted down each resolution, providing instruction to staff to meet with legal counsel to add everyone possible to the two enabling resolutions, including classified and certificated personnel.
Sondhi said it might take a special meeting to be held in order to meet the March 15 deadline to submit the resolutions. Submittal does not mean there will be any layoffs, but the resolutions, once passed, will give the board the power to eliminate, reduce, furlough, or take whatever action is allowed under law and union agreement.
The board still has time and will search for other ways to make up the shortfall, but if finances do not improve and budget revisions yield no additional funds, the board has to finalize a budget-balancing cut by May 15. The Cypress School District board has scheduled another meeting for this Thursday, Feb. 19.