Budget Cuts, Eliminated Positions Announced During Cottonwood Union School District Board Meeting

Cottonwood Union School District (CWUSD) normally draws a relatively modest head count at school board meetings. But on February 11, about 100 community members, including families, teachers and other school staff, filled up almost every available space in the small school library where the Board meets. 

The crowd showed up in response to a Board agenda item announcing potential cuts to a significant number of staffing positions. The agenda packet provided ahead of the Board meeting indicated that some 16 out of approximately 110 full-time equivalent positions were at risk and included a resolution stating that the Board would cut positions if, based on its own discretion, funds are lacking to employ staff. No budget materials were provided as justification for the cuts. 

According to Kelly Estrada, President of the CWUSD chapter of the California Teacher’s Association, some employees who attended the Board meeting learned for the first time that their jobs might be cut, not from the District, but through social media postings.

“I’m broken-hearted for my colleagues who have to see on Facebook that their job is being cut,” Estrada shared as she spoke to school officials during the meeting. “I wish we could have enough respect for our fellow employees to speak to them before this was put on the Board’s agenda.”

Matt Iles, who has been a CWUSD Board member for more than a decade, responded by emphasizing the alleged need for new austerity measures. Significant cuts are needed, he said, to prevent a future fiscal crisis that might allow either Shasta County or the state to “take control of the District.”

“We would like them to stay,” Iles said, referencing the staffers at risk of losing their jobs. “But at the same time, we have a fiduciary obligation as a school district that we need to make sure that the school is financially sound, for now.”

A review of minutes from a special January 27 meeting show that’s when the Board authorized Superintendent Doug Geren to propose specific staffing cuts. Since budget decisions and staffing cuts were not part of the Board’s special meeting agenda, Shasta Scout has reached out to the District to confirm that this action complied with the Brown Act and is awaiting a response.

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On February 25, the District provided Shasta Scout with a finalized list of staffing cuts clarifying the at-times-chaotic decision-making that occurred during the Board’s meeting. Positions that were eliminated include a teacher, curriculum coach, preschool aide, instructional aide, special education aide, behavioral technician, bus driver and a custodian.

According to information provided by the District during the meeting, three of the positions were already vacant and a fourth will become vacant after this school year ends. The staffing reductions will result in a combined annual savings of about $568,000 annually out of a total annual budget of about $15 million.

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Impacts of Staffing Cuts

CWUSD is a rural school District that provides public education in an unincorporated part of Shasta County known as Cottonwood. It includes three schools: West Cottonwood Junior High, North Cottonwood Elementary School (which includes Cottonwood Pre-School) and Cottonwood Creek Charter School. According to the California Department of Education, CWUSD has just under 1200 students across those schools.

“The school district is a large employer for a small town like that so we want to make sure that everybody understands what’s happening,” Iles told Shasta Scout by phone after the meeting. “And reassure people that, you know, these are thinking people and caring people that work for the school and that are on the school Board.”

But the audience members who spoke during the District meeting made it clear they didn’t understand the reason for the proposed staffing cuts. During the total of only twenty minutes allocated by the Board for public comment, more than a dozen individuals spoke. Some pushed through near-breathless anxiety while others were clearly on the brink of tears.

“This isn’t something that just happened overnight,” a school staff member shared in reference to the swiftness of learning about the potential cuts. “We are already short-staffed at North campus. We are all constantly jumping in where needed to lend assistance or even to support. We have been pulling people from their titled positions to fill in where it’s needed. There aren’t enough of us.”

Heather Anderson, a special education interventionist for CWUSD’s North campus, cited California Senate Bill 114 in her argument against the proposed layoffs. Signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in July 2023, the bill mandates universal screening of students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade for reading difficulties. The initiative aims to facilitate early identification and intervention to improve literacy outcomes and address academic achievement gaps.

“Starting next school year, the school will be obligated to provide screenings, action plans and intervention to all students at-risk that register,” Anderson said. 

“This is a law that can’t be ignored. I understand that budget cuts need to be made, but by eliminating intervention, you will be dismantling our full multi-tiered system of supports for students.”

Another consideration is that the Board’s decision to eliminate the District’s curriculum coordinator position will also prompt a change in who coordinates and oversees services for English Language Learners (ELL). Rebekah Cole, Principal of North Cottonwood School, told the Board that next year she’ll be the one taking on ELL coordination responsibilities in addition to her other professional duties.

While officials noted during the meeting that there are fewer than a dozen qualifying English language learners that will be affected by the change, it’s important to note that under both federal and state law, CWUSD has a legal responsibility to provide ELL students with an “equal and meaningful education,” something that often takes significant time and effort. Failure to do so can result in a civil rights lawsuit.

COVID Aftershocks? 

At the beginning of the meeting, Board members Iles and Heather Sulzer attempted to explain how the District determined that staffing cuts were necessary. They said the changes were primarily spurred by the District’s decreasing funding as a result of soon-to-be depleted federal COVID dollars, although no budget information backing that claim was provided in the Board’s agenda packet.

When CWUSD began receiving federal funds as a result of the pandemic, Iles and Sulzer said, the District chose to spend that money on high-need personnel, including school psychologists, guidance counselors, teachers and extra support staff.

“We added as many people as we could to help our students recover from the effects COVID had on education,” Sulzer said in explanation. ““Our motto was today’s kids, today’s dollars… Last year that money began to run out.”

A review of CWUSD’s First Interim Budget Report for 2024/2025, which Shasta Scout found on the Shasta County Office of Education (SCOE) site, is dated December 10 and indicates a positive certification from SCOE—meaning only a few months ago the District was projected to be able to meet its financial obligations without making significant budgetary changes. 

According to the report, at the time, the District did not plan to cut staffing in the 2025/2026 school year. An attempt by Shasta Scout to interview Superintendent Doug Geren to better understand what changed between December 10 and January 27 was met with a “no comment” response. 

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In the absence of other budget documentation, Iles shared a series of budget bar graphs during the Board meeting. While they show a gap between the District’s expenses and revenue, none provide clear documentation that corroborates the District’s claim that cutting almost 15% of the District’s staff might be necessary to maintain financial stability.

Shasta Scout has submitted a public records request asking for more detailed documentation of budget and staffing information from 2019 through the present and is awaiting a response. 

Questions Loom 

As parents and staff fought back against proposed staffing cuts during the January 11 Board meeting, many had logistical questions, including whether a school library would have to be closed if a librarian was let go and how District classrooms would function with even fewer aides. 

“Are there other budget adjustments that can be made?” various members of the public asked. “Can we seek additional funding sources? Create partnerships to help bridge the gap? I’ve seen what our community can do to come together. Have we fully made parents, the educators and the community members aware of all possible solutions?”

Iles, whose voice dominated the more than three-hour meeting, suggested that parents could help by improving student attendance rates and by filling out documentation for free school lunch eligibility in a way that better helps the District qualify for funding directed toward low-income student populations.

“When we ask people to fill out that document, we mean it,” Iles continued, “because that means our funding. Don’t tell us what you make. Tell us what you tell the IRS.”

Parents and staff countered Iles’ suggestions with questions about whether a lack of vaccination compliance was impacting the District’s revenue from the state. 

Iles acknowledged that there has been an issue with vaccine compliance, blaming a “software glitch” that was allegedly discovered in December. While he and Geren said the problem would likely impact future state funding, they offered no further substantive information, claiming that so far, the amount of funding lost due to low vaccine compliance is unknown. Shasta Scout is in the process of submitting records requests to confirm the District’s various vaccine-related claims. 

What’s Next

While some on CWUSD staff may be relieved that the Board voted to make fewer staffing cuts than initially threatened, tensions remain high at the District.

Iles and other officials made it clear during the February 11 meeting that the initial vote to reduce the equivalent of seven full-time positions could just be the beginning of further staffing cuts.

The CWUSD Board is scheduled to meet again on March 11.

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