What's at stake?
The final reductions will be effective June 30 and come as the district forecasts a deficit of $59 million for the coming 2026-27 school year.
The Fresno Unified Board of Education moved forward with a process that is expected to trigger job cuts and layoffs, with more than 200 positions potentially on the line.
The vote came late Wednesday during a tense regularly-scheduled board of trustees meeting.
Edison High School sophomore Brianna Smith was one of many students and community members who spoke out against the job cuts.
“When education funding is cut, the impact reaches far beyond classrooms, but in families and futures,” she said. “What does that say about how the district values those who educate us?”
According to district communications manager AJ Kato, the layoffs are expected to save the district $58.2 million.
The exact number of positions affected won’t be finalized until March 15, said FUSD Chief of Human Resources David Chavez.
“It triggers the bumping and layoff process is really what it is,” Chavez told reporters after Wednesday’s meeting about the board’s unanimous decisions to pass both reduction resolutions. Only the student board members voted against the resolutions.
“So statutorily, Education Code requires a district to take action to do preliminary notices by March 15 on any type of layoff, and layoff being a reduction in hours [or] reduction in pay that potentially could impact an employee, so tonight, they’re just really launching a process that goes all the way through June,” Chavez explained.
Chavez further explained that, after March 15, employees may request a hearing by May 7 if they feel they shouldn’t be part of the reductions. Layoff notices would then be sent out May 14, but Chavez noted that, depending on the number of vacancies in the district, affected staff would be offered alternative roles that maintain their benefits. If a role in their previous position opens up in the future, Chavez says they would be eligible to re-apply.
Chief Financial Officer Patrick Jensen also said that option would be available for employees who do not undergo the “bumping” process, where senior staff are “bumped” to a lower position, replacing junior staff, while retaining employment in the district.
The final reductions will be effective June 30 and come as the district forecasts a deficit of $59 million for the coming 2026-27 school year. Without the proposed layoffs, Jensen said Fresno Unified’s deficit spending would only increase, leading to the district’s reserves going below a 2% threshold in two years.
If that happened, it would require the State of California to provide oversight over Fresno Unified and its finances.
“Fundamentally, we’re in a scenario that, due to low enrollment and low attendance, we’re deficit spending, and so those reserves are currently being spent down and if we do not take action in order to reduce that deficit, what will occur is the district reserves will drop below the 2% state requirement, as required by the state of California and the CDE,” Jensen told the media after the board meeting.
According to Kato and the 2025-26 first interim financial report, the current year’s reserve of 5.83% amounts to about $97.82 million. For the coming 2026-27 year, the district projects a reserve level of 3.77%, or $61.55 million, plus a reserve projection of 3.03% in 2027-28, or $48.48 million.
Also on Wednesday, the district uploaded its fourth “Focusing on our Future” video, detailing its current financial situation and planned reductions.
In it, Superintendent Misty Her and Jensen explain reductions the district has been making to address the budget deficit.
That includes reductions of $3.5 million in district office leadership since 2023-24 and plans for a further $9 million in proposed reductions in 2026-27, plus $39 million in reductions to programs in 26-27. They also mention projected savings of $59 million from the PARS retirement incentive over the next five years.
Despite these efforts, Jensen notes in the video that these savings address less than half of the $50 million reduction needed for the 2026-27 school year.
“Unfortunately, 200 positions will still need to be eliminated,” Jensen states in the video.
On top of this, Jensen shared after the meeting that more reductions to contracts, travel, site funds and other non-personnel areas are also under consideration.
The board room was filled with community members, workers and members of the Fresno Chapter for the California School Employees School Employees (CSEA). Overflow seating was implemented for the second portion of the meeting.
Eufemia Sanchez, the Fresno Chapter President for CSEA, said Wednesday’s cuts for classified employees would affect more than 70% of her union’s members — or 125 of the the union’s 173 members. Sanchez also said she believes that approximately 55 members of SEIU Local 521, another union representing classified workers, will also be impacted.
Like many that spoke before and during the two resolutions, Sanchez said the reductions come at the worst time possible and have the potential to impact more than just workers.
“Think about it this way, if they have students attending Fresno Unified now, we’re not only losing the employee, but they’re going to turn around and take their student so then, of course, the enrollment will continue to decrease and we’ll be back here next year with the same situation,” Sanchez told Fresnoland in an interview before the resolution votes.
Brianna Smith, the Edison High sophomore, spoke in support of workers during the lay-offs discussion.
“My father devoted his life, like many others, to teaching while making a change within the community,” Smith said during public comment. “I believe dedication would provide stability and security, yet even that devotion is not enough in this case.”
While tension grew as the meeting neared the reduction resolutions, audience members erupted with applause every time a community member spoke at the podium. On top of urging the board to mitigate the impacts of the reductions on workers, community members also reminded them that the numbers behind the cuts are people’s livelihoods.
“Those are real people with bills to pay and hearts broken with the uncertainty that the first thing that we see anybody coming for when there is a budget deficit is the schools, is the student supports,” said community member Morgan Conner during the second resolution discussion.
For now, it remains unclear exactly how many jobs will be eliminated between both classified and certificated employees.
The resolutions list an equivalent of 84 full-time positions for certificated staff and 190 positions for classified staff identified for reduction, discontinuation or elimination. Those are on top of cutting an additional 63.94 vacancies, district officials confirmed.
Kato said the exact breakdown of how many classified and certificated staff proposed to be laid off will be finalized at the board’s March 25 meeting.
