New Santa Cruz County superintendent highlights fiscal services, grants and internship goals

Maya Donnelly, the newly appointed Santa Cruz County school superintendent, said she has been on the job about five days and will focus on fiscal services, grant programs and local education initiatives that support districts facing budget pressure.

Donnelly made the remarks during an interview on the Gov 101 podcast hosted by Omar Acosta and Natalia Flores. She described the superintendent’s office as the county’s fiscal agent for local school districts and listed a range of programs administered or supported by the office.

"I'm very new to this position. It's been about 5 days, so far, but I've been working in this office for the last 9 years," Donnelly said. "As the county school superintendent's office, we are the fiscal agent for our school districts. There's five school districts in our county — six if you count the two Pannonias." She said the office prepares payroll, receives deposits and warrants and handles other accounting tasks to keep districts in compliance.

Donnelly outlined programs the office runs or helps coordinate, saying, "We also take care of elections for governing school boards, for bonds, overrides, special elections. We also do annual special events. We do summer camps. We have grant programs." She added the office organizes events such as back-to-school distributions and the county spelling bee, and that winners progress to state competition.

On workforce and student supports, Donnelly said the office runs summer camps, a literacy internship program and five priority initiatives: early childhood, college and career readiness, the arts, adult education and workforce, and wellness. "We did the lit internship program, which was the birth of these two people," she said, describing the internship as a formative experience for participants.

Donnelly described a major grant program — GEAR UP — the office has hosted for seven years and tied its work to school-counselor support. "GEAR UP ... has made a definite positive contribution to preparing kids for life after high school," she said, adding the county’s counselor-to-student ratio can be as high as about 1 counselor per 900 students.

Asked whether those supports could return, Donnelly said, "If we get a new grant, that can bring back the internship program." She said the office is awaiting decisions on new grant applications and hopes to expand locally offered professional development so teachers need not travel to Tucson or Phoenix for training.

Donnelly also described her background in local education. She said she was born in Denver, raised in Nogales, attended the University of Arizona and taught in multiple local schools before joining the superintendent’s office. "When he appointed me to be his chief deputy, that was when I really started learning more about the superintendent position," she said, referring to her predecessor.

The podcast hosts asked several informal questions about community events and local attractions; Donnelly noted the department’s participation in the county fair and Read Across America volunteer reading programs.

The interview included no formal board action or policy decisions. Donnelly repeatedly tied her near-term priorities to securing grant funding and supporting districts through fiscal services and local programs.

Looking ahead, she said her office will continue seeking grants and local partnerships. "We're hoping that [grants] are coming right now. If we don't, we're going to keep trying to find money somewhere," Donnelly said.