Mill Valley superintendent recommends $6 million in cuts, proposes cutting unfunded TK to protect K–8 programs

Superintendent Elizabeth Kaufman recommended a $6 million reduction to the Mill Valley School District’s 2025–26 budget in an online community presentation, saying the district faces an “unprecedented structural deficit” and that she will present the recommendation to the board on Jan. 16.

Kaufman said the district’s books closed the previous fiscal year with an almost $6 million shortfall and that subsequent accounting and position-control work increased the shortfall to about $7.3 million. She said the $6 million recommendation is intended to bring the district closer to balance and that the district would seek to cover the remaining roughly $1.3 million through other means.

The recommendation prioritizes preserving small class sizes, certificated teachers and instructional assistants. Kaufman said those priorities guided the proposals to minimize classroom impacts where possible while reducing costs in other areas. "The children who come to us in Mill Valley are very well prepared to be in school," Kaufman said. "The very best value we can put in front of your children is an outstanding educator." She added the district is attempting to cut "as far away from the classroom as we can."

Why it matters: Mill Valley is a community-funded (basic-aid) district that draws about 25 percent of its general fund from a local parcel tax; Kaufman said that parcel tax requires a 67 percent voter threshold to pass and expires June 30, 2029. She warned that drawing reserves below the state-required minimum — 3 percent of the budget — would trigger a qualified status and county oversight, complicating any future parcel-tax renewal and undermining community confidence.

Key proposed reductions and actions outlined by Kaufman - Eliminate or pause the district-run, unfunded transitional kindergarten (TK) program. Kaufman said TK was not funded sufficiently by the state for Mill Valley’s basic-aid funding model and that reinstatement would depend on sustainable, ongoing funding. She described TK as a high-value program but said the district must weigh its academic priorities for K–8 instruction. - Reduce district office spending by about $750,000; district office functions include operations, human resources, business operations and technology support. - Cut contracted services by approximately $600,000–$700,000, depending on instructional software and other contracts. - Return some positions to pre‑COVID funding levels: reduce the number of elementary counselors (to about three districtwide) and adjust middle‑school counseling and the wellness‑center coordinator position. - Preserve teachers on special assignment (TOSAs) who deliver certificated targeted-learning supports, while reducing some classified intervention (RAMP) specialists where possible. - Offer a retirement incentive and pursue reductions by attrition; Kaufman said the district must confirm any incentive is financially beneficial before offering it and that attrition alone is unlikely to achieve the full savings without risking combination classes or the middle‑school elective program.

Budget and timeline details Kaufman said the district originally closed the books with roughly a 22 percent reserve but that further analysis and position‑control efforts — consolidating HR and payroll data and identifying previously COVID-funded positions now absorbed into ongoing costs — increased the identified deficit. She said COVID-era staffing and programs, ongoing salary and benefit increases approved in 2023, and declining enrollment (said to be roughly the same as 2006–07 while staffing has increased) contributed to the structural gap.

Next steps and possible personnel actions Kaufman said she will present the recommendation to the board on Jan. 16. If the board approves, the district expects retirement-incentive submissions to be due by Jan. 31 (or the first week of February) and a board meeting on Feb. 13 to consider retirement incentives and, if necessary, layoff resolutions. She noted that California law requires personnel decisions tied to reductions in force to be made by March 15 and said the timeline is compressed to give staff time to search for other positions if layoffs occur.

Community response and alternatives Kaufman described short public surveys and staff feedback that emphasized preserving small class sizes, instruction, and arts/music as community priorities. She said some parents and community members are exploring fundraising and partnership options — including a meeting organized by a parent (Alexa) and local groups like Kiddo that currently fund arts and music positions — but stressed that any restoration of suspended programs would require sustained funding. Kaufman said she was open to community-driven solutions as long as they covered all affected TK students and provided ongoing funding rather than a one‑year fix.

Kaufman concluded by urging the community to engage and said the district’s top priority is to stabilize finances to preserve core K–8 programs. "We need to get our budget back in order," she said. "If we don't pass our parcel tax, we will lose significant — it will start to really impact our day to day, every classroom, every child."