Pajaro Valley Unified School District administrators who miss meetings without notice will lose their monthly allowance under a set of new bylaws approved by the board on Wednesday.

Directors also heard a budget report that shows positive financial news that is tempered by forecasts of declining enrollments over the coming years.

Trustees receive $ 400 per month in compensation for their duties. Missing a bi-monthly meeting without notifying the superintendent or the chairman of the board of directors will mean a loss of some of that.

The new rules include changes in how student counselors vote, how much time will be allotted for public comment, and how anonymous public comment is accepted. In addition, the new rules refine the way the board uses legal advisers.

Also under the new statutes, the secretary of the board will be required to keep minutes and record all dates, times and attendance at the board. Recordings of board meetings will be kept for at least 30 days, with “as much historical record as possible,” the new rules say.

The changes were passed 6-1, with Administrator Georgia Acosta dissenting. She did not respond to a request for comment.

Student trustees

Although state law prohibits student counselors from casting official votes on any action to be taken by the board of directors, they can now cast “preferential votes” and will be able to attend the same training. of the California School Board Association as the rest of the board. In addition, student counselors will meet with the superintendent and the chair of the board to prepare for upcoming meetings.

Anonymous comments

Anyone wishing to remain anonymous while commenting at a public meeting should always submit their name and email address to the secretary of the board. The change came after trustees expressed concern over the bullying on condition of anonymity.

Public comments

Each component of the public meetings will allow for 30 minutes of public input, and speakers will be limited to two minutes each. These deadlines can be increased with a vote of the board if necessary.

Trustees also heard a budget update following Governor Gavin Newsom’s May review, which gives the district a cost-of-living adjustment of 5.07%, higher than expected in January.

In addition, the state is providing $ 92.8 billion for education this year, an increase of almost $ 10 billion from the January budget proposal, said Clint Rucker, commercial director of PVUSD. Rucker pointed out, however, that 80% of that amount is one-time money.

In addition, the state provides $ 1.1 billion in “concentration grants” to districts with high numbers of low-income, English-learning youth and other “high-need” youth, Rucker said. .

The news was not all good. The district is also facing increases in employee retirement costs, which go from 22.91% this year to 27.7% in 2024-25.

In addition, UI drops from 0.05% to 1.23%, which Rucker says will cost the district an additional $ 1 million.

PVUSD is also joining with districts across the state to observe declining enrollment trends reducing daily attendance revenues.

Statewide, schools are serving about 160,000 fewer students, Rucker says. In PVUSD, the 17,585 students will increase to 15,777 in 2023-24, according to projections.

“It’s a bit shocking,” he said. “It’s a bit of a loss. “

The district was also successful in reducing its deficit spending, which fell from $ 17.6 million in 2017-18 to zero in the 2020-21 school year.

Those numbers are expected to reach $ 4.5 million in 2022-2023, as the district spends part of its reserves as it recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, Rucker said.