The Santa Clara Unified School District Board of Trustees spent more than an hour on June 12 discussing a woodturning program at Santa Clara High School that uses lathes purchased with Perkins grant funds. Trustees and staff said Perkins (federal career and technical education) funds restrict equipment purchased under that grant to 9–12 CTE instruction, and therefore adult education enrichment classes and community groups cannot use those machines.

District staff said the adult-education enrichment classes that have met at Santa Clara High used the Perkins‑purchased lathes and that the California Department of Education (CDE) told staff the equipment cannot be used for adult enrichment or external community groups. Staff presented a plan to relocate adult education woodworking classes to Bookser Middle School and to have community groups request facility use through Facilitron. Staff also said adult-education program leaders have budgeted to buy new lathes for Bookser so those purchases would not use Perkins funds.

Trustees and several public speakers, including high school students, volunteer instructors and members of a women’s woodturning group, described the program’s benefits for students and the community and urged options that preserve student access. Santa Clara High construction teacher Mitch Posey and volunteer instructor Ray Hari told the board the woodturning work has supplemented instruction, reduced crowding around power tools and given students hands-on safety practice.

Trustees discussed alternatives raised in public comments: replacing Perkins‑purchased lathes with district‑funded machines, moving newly purchased lathes planned for Bookser back to Santa Clara High, and allowing volunteer-run activities there. Staff said replacing serviceable Perkins equipment early would be costly and that the adult‑education funds identified to buy new machines for Bookser cannot be used to buy equipment for the high school. Staff also said disposal or reassignment of Perkins equipment follows federal grant disposal rules and may require offering the equipment to other eligible 9–12 CTE programs.

After deliberation, the board voted 4–3 to give direction to staff to continue with the proposed relocation of adult education woodworking to Bookser Middle School, to use Facilitron for community use reservations, and to proceed with planning. The board also approved a separate motion to request a written report back from staff on the plan (timing to be determined separately), so trustees will receive details about scheduling, equipment purchases and how student access will be preserved.

Nut graf: The discussion centered on a narrow funding rule: machines bought with Perkins CTE funds are restricted to 9–12 CTE uses. The decision to relocate adult classes is intended to preserve grant eligibility for the high‑school CTE pathway while keeping adult and community programming available in district facilities.

Ending: Staff said they will continue working with the CTE and adult‑education teams, Carrie Castro and Julie Bedell, site administrators and community users to minimize disruption, to explore whether volunteers can continue supporting student enrichment, and to produce a detailed plan and timeline for trustee review.