Chandler school board to meet again by Feb. 4 on staffing cuts

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

Chandler Unified’s Governing Board voted, at a special Jan. 21 meeting, to schedule another special meeting.
The board capped a three-hour special meeting Jan. 21 by voting, 3-2, to direct administration to complete a list of tasks in advance of a special meeting to be held Feb. 4 or earlier.

“The administrative cabinet to return to the Governing Board with alternative budget options that address the approximately $2 million reduction, with priority given to district-level administrative reductions and non-student-facing positions,” the board’s lone Jan. 21 motion reads.

“This information shall be presented to the board no later than Feb. 4, or earlier if feasible, to ensure the board has sufficient information to support informed decision-making and to allow Super Q planning to proceed without delay.”

“Super Q” is the district’s team of administration, union representatives and others that does much of each year’s staffing and budget planning. Contracts for the 2026-27 school year must be issued by March 15.

The motion also calls for administration or staff to provide “information previously requested by the board regarding district administrative staffing levels in relation to enrollment, including historical context and any existing or proposed staffing guidelines comparable to school-site staffing ratios; to provide clarity on staffing structure and capacity.”

Board president Patti Serrano and members Claudia Mendoza and Barb Mozdzen voted in favor of the motion. Board members Ryan Heap and Kurt Rohrs voted against it.

The Jan. 21 meeting was called during a Jan. 14 regular meeting as a split from an action item intended to address about $12 million in staffing cuts the district anticipates it needs to make in order to balance the CUSD 2026-27 budget.

The board approved a sweeping list of reductions to part-time and eliminations of full- and part-time positions Jan. 14 to account for about $10 million in savings, but proposed plans for elementary and middle-school media center staffing and a new “career literacy teacher” position led to confusion and much public resistance.

Media center staffing was a main topic at both meetings, though at the Jan. 21 meeting, there was much more board discussion about administrative staffing than there’d been the week prior.

Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Fletcher presented nine other options in an effort to cut out $2 million in expenses for the 2026-27 school year. Only one of the options involved dipping into reserves.

The idea of using reserve funds didn’t have a lot of board support. Board member Kurt Rohrs said he feels like the board would be “kicking the can down the road” by not making at least moderate cuts for 2026-27.

“I think we’re going to be doing these types of cuts every year, for the next several years,” Rohrs said.

If that turns out to be the case, it seems unlikely administration would recommend dipping into reserves for general-fund payroll budgeting in consecutive years.

In fact, CUSD leaders don’t recommend that at all. Fletcher said the executive administration team still feels Option No. 1, as presented as the only option as part of the Jan. 14 action item as one of the 10 options at the Jan. 21 meeting.

“The team still believes Option 1 is the best path forward for the district,” Fletcher said. “We have spent the last eight months working through that $12 million budget reduction, thinking through and processing that option. Obviously, in one week, we have not had time to analyze or discuss the other newer options for unintended consequences.”

Several administrators, CUSD school principals and others spoke at the Jan. 21 special meeting about the ways media specialists and other staff function, mainly in the context of how campus media centers are staffed and used.

Mendoza, herself a former elementary school principal, addressed the principals who were at the meeting.

“The biggest reason we’re having this discussion is to ensure all options are on the table,” Mendoza said. “So we see you and appreciate you and we remember it takes teachers and campus leaders and ‘specials’ to run a school."

Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as those meet our  Civility Guidelines.

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.