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View Winners → Pasadena’s Policymakers Hold Annual Joint Meeting
News Feb 21, 2018
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The city council and school board crowded around the dais for their annual joint session on Feb. 15. – Courtesy photo / Screenshot KPAS
Voters to determine future of city elections on June 5; city council weighs in on PUSD’s fiscal stabilization plan
By Gus Herrera
Last week, the Pasadena City Council and Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) Board of Education held their annual joint meeting in city hall.
Action items on the evening’s agenda included the approval of several resolutions to submit charter amendments for voter consideration that will change the timing of future city/school board elections.
The move represents a final step for local policymakers to align Pasadena’s elections (formerly held in odd-numbered years) with the statewide dates (held in even-numbered years), consistent with the California Voters Participation Rights Act (CVPRA). It is now up to the voters to make the final determination on June 5.
When Council Member Andy Wilson asked what would happen if the charter amendments do not pass, City Clerk Mark Jomsky said that “it would be not ideal” and that the city could potentially “get sued.”
“We will look to the city attorney’s office to seek what legal remedies we have,” continued Jomsky.
City Attorney Michele Bagneris responded, “in the event that the voters reject the measures, we would recommend pursuing declarations from the courts to give direction to the body and have the court … sort it out in a declaratory relief action or something similar.”
“It sounds like a nightmare,” admitted Wilson, “thank you for at least telling us that it’s going to be super messy.”
Mayor Terry Tornek chimed in with a similar response, “not a tidy answer,” he said.
Both the city and the PUSD will look to the Los Angeles County Clerk/Registrar of Voters to administer June’s elections on their behalf.
In what might have been the most popular move of the night, Council Member Tyron Hampton, PUSD alumnus and former school board member, put forth a motion to have the city help cover the PUSD’s election costs (not including costs outside the city – i.e. Altadena and Sierra Madre).
“I think we all know that there have been … some financial changes at the school district and I think it’d be fair, as a collaborative group of city council members, that we take the burden … I think it’s just right as a group … that we have to be collaborative,” said Hampton, followed by applause from the crowd.
In what might have been the most popular move of the night, Council Member Tyron Hampton, PUSD alumnus and former school board member, put forth a motion to have the city help cover the PUSD’s election costs. – Courtesy photo / Screenshot KPAS
In order to consolidate the election cycles, the terms for both council members and PUSD board members will be extended one time, by 19 months.
Whereas the city elections will maintain their primary/general format, which ensures that successful candidates receive a 50 percent-plus-one majority, the PUSD’s elections will transition to a plurality system, in which candidates can win by a simple majority.
The school district’s decision to move to a plurality system was based on a couple of factors – in addition to the cost savings of running only one election, City Clerk Jomsky revealed that the “since the time that [the PUSD] changed to district elections, there’s been no need for the board to have runoff elections … all of their elections … with maybe one exception, has since been determined in the primary.”
Later in the evening, PUSD Superintendent Brian McDonald presented a report on the school district’s recently-adopted fiscal stabilization plan to the council and school board.
Faced with a fiscal crisis, PUSD Superintendent Brian McDonald revealed that “everything is on the table,” including the possibility of closing a high school. – Courtesy photo / Screenshot KPAS
When Council Member Gene Masuda asked about the whether the possibility of closing a high school was on the table, McDonald quickly responded, “well, everything’s on the table.”
The superintendent revealed that a closure/consolidations committee will present recommendations to the school board sometime next month on how to proceed, with respects to facilities.
“The fact of the matter is we’re a smaller district now and we have to find a way to right-size … in two ways,” said McDonald, “by reducing the number of staff and also by re-aligning our facilities to match our current enrollment.”
McDonald also said that as long as student enrollment continues to decline and revenue streams remain flat, the district does not “have a choice but to continue to cut.”
Various council members floated around potential ideas to generate revenue, although Mayor Tornek reminded everyone that the school district is relatively limited by state funding, “they’re sort of holding their breath and waiting to see what Sacramento decides to fund in any given year, it’s sort of nuts,” he said.
On the other hand, when it comes to declining enrollment, the PUSD has begun taking a more proactive approach. Superintendent McDonald spoke about a “realtor initiative,” where the school district has approached local realtor companies, encouraging them to take school tours and promote the PUSD.
The school district has also partnered with the Pasadena Educational Foundation to purchase radio spots, which will begin airing on KPCC next week.
“This has been a very fruitful, somewhat somber, information-laden meeting,” concluded Tornek, “we have a lot to do, jointly, to serve the people of Pasadena.”
