Vallejo school district to close two schools, cut 75 staff positions

VALLEJO – The Vallejo City Unified School District’s Board of Education voted Wednesday to close two schools and relocate another starting next school year as well as cut 75 staff positions in order to close a looming budget deficit.

The school board voted unanimously during its meeting Wednesday to close Mare Island Health and Fitness Academy and move Vallejo Charter School onto the Mare Island campus. It also voted 4-1 to close Loma Vista Environmental Science Academy, with board President John Fox as the only no vote. Fox is the only trustee who was elected to the board in a competitive election. The other trustees were either appointed to the school board or ran unopposed.

Loma Vista Academy’s full closure likely came as a surprise to community members. A district committee recommended in November that the school board agree only to reduce its population by cutting its sixth through eighth grade classes, but keep its transitional kindergarten through fifth grade classes. 

The three schools all serve transitional kindergarten through eighth grade students. In total, well over 1,100 students will be affected when the district implements its closure and consolidation plans next school year. According to the district data presented at the meeting, 425 students currently attend Mare Island Academy, 359 attend Loma Vista Academy, and 368 attend Vallejo Charter.

During the meeting, VCUSD Superintendent Rubén Aurelio defended the need to close schools in order to allow the district to be financially stable. 

“Our goal is to maintain financial solvency, minimize classroom impact, and ensure we position VCUSD for long term sustainability” Aurelio said.

According to the VCUSD’s own budget projections, the district anticipates a $20.3 million budget deficit for the current school year. 

Aurelio said declining enrollment has largely caused the budget shortfalls. The district has lost about 30% of its enrollment from the 2014-2015 to the 2023-2024 school years, according to school district data. Since the district is largely funded through its enrollment, the enrollment loss has caused it to take in less money than it has in the past.

The loss of one-time federal COVID-19 relief funds also has made it difficult for the district to stay fiscally solvent, Aurelio said. The district had received $82 million in COVID funds since the onset of the pandemic, but most of those funds have been spent at this point and the district doesn’t anticipate receiving more.

Additionally, Aurelio said that the district is facing state pressure to close schools. In 2003, VCUSD faced bankruptcy and borrowed $60 million from the state, but lost control to make its own decisions. Over the years, the district has paid off its debt and gained more autonomy, but a state trustee, Melvin Iizuka, still oversees and advises the district on fiscal matters.

Iizuka has recently warned that if VCUSD doesn’t close schools this year, next, and possibly in the future, the district could again lose much of its decision making power.

Aurelio stressed the need for VCUSD to maintain its autonomy by making budget cuts. According to projections shared with the board late last month, the district estimates it will save about $1.1 million per year from closing Mare Island Academy and about $1.2 million per year from closing Loma Vista Academy.

“We want to avoid unnecessary intervention by fiscal oversight entities,” Aurelio said. “We’re on the verge of exiting state receivership. We’ve paid off our loans. Now we’re just demonstrating to the county and the state that we can stand alone.”

Four parents and employees of Mare Island Academy gave public comments at the meeting saying they accepted the inevitability of the school’s closure while expressing sadness and calling for transparency over how the district planned to handle it.

Zayra Herrera, a mother of two students at Mare Island Academy who also works as a bilingual tutor at the school, expressed concern she would lose her employment.

“No matter how many people come up and speak, it will not change. But what happens to our jobs?” Herrera asked. “If we are losing our jobs we should be given heads up. I’m worried sick.”

Per board policy, neither the board nor Aurelio was able to respond directly to commenter’s questions during the meeting, but a district presentation said it intends to cut about 75 staff positions this school year, saving the district about $7.5 million per year. In total the board approved a projected $12.8 million in cuts. 

State law requires the district to send out letters to staff members in early March informing them whether or not they will be able to keep their positions. But staff members and teachers said they want to be informed sooner.

“I think it’s pretty evident what’s going to happen here,” Mare Island Academy parent and PTA President Eva Poom said. “What we want is transparency.” 

Echoing Herrera, Poom asked if staff would be able to stay, and she also asked for clarity as to whether or not her child could continue attending the school.

Before the trustees voted to close the school, Aurelio said that students currently attending Mare Island Academy will have the opportunity to attend Vallejo Charter when it moves onto Mare Island Academy’s campus. 

“The ultimate goal is to merge the schools,” Aurelio said. “It would essentially be a name change for Mare Island Academy.”

The site’s capacity is for 750 students. Although the combined enrollment for Mare Island Academy and Vallejo Charter is 793, 43 over capacity, Aurelio noted that both schools’ eighth grade students will graduate this year, and the district is considering eliminating transitional kindergarten at Vallejo Charter, which would make the school serve one less grade.

Rosa Velasquez, a parent of Vallejo Charter students, said that not all parents will be willing or able to take their kids to the new campus on Mare Island across town. She’s considering enrolling her students in the Benicia Unified School District, because it’s closer.

“I can’t get my kids to Mare Island,” Velasquez said. “You all aren’t doing anything to keep me in these schools. We’re not close to Mare Island. Benicia is closer.”

Sarah Polito, a lawyer VCUSD hired to guide it through the process of designating properties as surplus, said that the district intends to use the shuttered Vallejo Charter site to provide community services such as a health clinic, professional development, and enrollment services.

Polito said the district would use Loma Vista Academy’s site for an early learner center and a professional development center.

Before voting to close Mare Island Academy, Fox expressed sadness but said he felt the board had to agree to the closure to make the district sustainable.

“I’ve been having trouble sleeping and have been stressed,” Fox said. “We don’t want to close schools. But if we don’t right size the district, the state will tell us what to do. This is something we have to do to maintain the district.”

In a public comment, Janice Sullivan cast doubt on whether closing Loma Vista Academy would be good for the district’s financial health long term. Sullivan is a former VCUSD teacher who used to be president of the Vallejo Educators Association. Currently, she’s president of Friends of Loma Vista Farm, the nonprofit that runs the five-acre farm which sits next to Loma Vista Academy. Loma Vista Academy teachers regularly take their students to the farm to learn about nature and nutrition.

Calling the school “a gem” and “unique,” Sullivan encouraged the district to use the school as a way to attract more students into the district, instead of closing it.

“One thing that’s really struck me listening tonight is there’s no plans to bring kids back into the school district,” Sullivan said. “People are interested in how food is raised and the environment. Loma Vista is a way to get kids back to the district. Promoting the school would help.”

Fox said he was against closing Loma Vista Academy because it would cause “further damage to the district.”

“I love the idea of having an elementary school connected to a farm, where you have programs that are connected to gardening and livestock,” Fox said. “This has been a Vallejo gem for years and I think it can foster future enrollment.”

Trustee Carlos Flores stressed that Loma Vista Farm and Loma Vista Academy are separate. and that the district, which supports the farm, wouldn’t close it. He said that schools across the district could still visit the farm for field trips. 

Flores called closing a school “one of the biggest sacrifices we can ask,” but supported the closure for the good of the district overall. He predicted that closing schools could help stop the district from spreading its resources too thin, and could help improve academic performance. 

In a Governing Body Study Session held late last month, Trustee Latyna Young said she was against closing Loma Vista Academy. She did not speak at all during the discussion over Loma Vista Academy’s closure before voting to close the school.