The Sonoma Valley Unified School District board of trustees voted unanimously to eliminate the equivalent of 19 classified and 14 certified positions at its meeting last week to help address the district’s financial problems, but acknowledged that some of the cuts will pose challenges.

Estimated savings from the cuts are $1.40 million from classified jobs and $1.73 million from certificated positions.

“The board recognizes that staff layoffs are very painful,” said Catarina Landry, president of the board. “These positions represent the livelihood of real people in our community. These were not easy decisions to make, but they were necessary.

“As a board, we have a fiduciary responsibility to deliver a balanced budget and we must stop the cycle of deficit spending.”

Jeanette Rodriguez-Chien, the superintendent of the district, said the staff reductions were “incredibly difficult and emotional.”

“It is unfortunate that our deep-rooted budget challenges continue to cause the district to have to make decisions that impact our staff and students,” she said. “The goal here is to get the budget balanced and maintain a healthy reserve. Our hope is to be able to bring back staff in the short and long term as resources permit.”

At their meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13, trustees voted to cut the equivalent of 19.06 full-time classified jobs no later than the beginning of the 2025-26 school year. These include 9.69 classified positions due to the consolidation of Adele Harrison and Altimira middle schools as well as 9.37 additional classified positions.

They also voted to eliminate the 14 certificated jobs by July 1, 2025. These consist of three full-time positions — middle school principal, vice principal and mathematics teacher — due to the consolidation. The 11 additional full-time certificated positions that will be cut are seven elementary school teachers on special assignment, a high school counselor, the district wide librarian, a psychologist and a special education program coordinator.

“Staffing cuts were difficult decisions that none of us were happy making,” said Trustee David Bell. “However, all parties knew these staffing cuts would be necessary when we agreed to the two negotiated labor agreements that increased the deficit to $2.3 million from $950,000 for the fiscal year 2024-25.

“I joined the board after these negotiations started and was a reluctant ‘yes’ vote on the cuts.”

He said that it is critical for the board to balance the budget and build sufficient reserves for stability of the district.

“I will not vote for any future budget or contract that results in a deficit ever again as a trustee,” he said. “Hopefully, this will be the sixth and last year of million-dollar deficit spending; otherwise it will be without my vote.

“Every stakeholder, myself included, has responsibility for the $1.3 million deficit increase in the 2024-25 budget. None of us should be in any way surprised that these layoffs are the inevitable consequence.”

In a letter to the district dated Jan. 13, two Sonoma County Office of Education employees — Director of External Fiscal Services Sarah Lampenfeld and Deputy Superintendent of Business Services Greg Medici — wrote that the district projects structural, unrestricted operating deficits in the general fund of $2,273,529 in 2024-25, $1,199,091 for 2025-26 and $330,471 in 2026-27 and that it estimates the available unrestricted reserve to be 2.82% in 2024-25, 1.29% in 2025-26 and 0.83% in 2026-27.

“Expenditures are projected to increase across all employee groups by approximately $3.7 million over three years, necessitating corresponding budget reductions to ensure the district remains fiscally solvent,” the letter states.

Their letter says that the board’s recent contracts with the Valley of the Moon Teachers Association and the California School Employees Association “are expected to accelerate the deficit spending, leading to lower levels” and raise “substantial doubt about the district’s ability to continue as a growing concern.”

The contracts, which the board approved on Wednesday, Jan. 15, provide a 2% salary increase for all school district employees, including certificated and classified employees as well as principals and administrators. Classified employees also are receiving an additional one-time 1% salary increase during the 2024-25 school year.

Landry said that going forward, the board is committed to being more disciplined with how it allocates its financial resources and recognizes that its investments must be results driven.

“To do so, we need to have an ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of our programs and stop spending money on programs and services that are not producing results for our students,” she said. “We recognize the desire for additional collaboration between staff, our families and the district as we move forward.

“I cannot speak for other trustees, but I truly believe we are willing to create more ways to ensure this collaboration is reached and our community, students and staff have additional opportunities to be heard.”

Reach the reporter, Dan Johnson, at daniel.johnson@sonomanews.com.