Santa Rosa board advances consolidation plan, approves qualified budget and creates county support committee amid community pushback

The Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Education on March 12 moved forward with a living school consolidation and transition plan, approved a second interim budget that the district certified as “qualified,” and voted to create an ad hoc oversight committee with the Sonoma County Office of Education to help implement the transition work.

The actions come as the district faces falling enrollment and a budget shortfall that have prompted school closures, staff notices and a reorganization of programs. The board approved the second interim budget (scenario 1) and accepted the district’s qualified certification, meaning officials warned the district may not be able to meet its fiscal obligations in the current or next two fiscal years without further actions.

The board said the transition plan will rely on school‑level “empower teams” to handle many implementation decisions and on cross‑department implementation and design teams to align transportation, special education, athletics and other operations. The district also approved an ad hoc committee to work with the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCO) on six priority areas including fiscal management, special education planning, campus safety and 7–12 configuration planning.

Board and staff described the transition plan as a ‘‘living document’’ the district will update as sites finalize decisions. Superintendent Dr. Morales said most decisions should be made at the school‑site level where possible, with cabinet and district staff supporting logistics and compliance. The district will post notes from site empowerment teams so the public can see decisions and discussions.

Parent, staff and union leaders told the board they are anxious about speed of change, communication and potential program losses. Mary Lehman, president of the California School Employees Association chapter that represents classified staff locally, said, “This week, layoffs and involuntary transfer notices are being distributed and mailed to classified and certificated employees.” SRTA President Catherine Howell described a high level of uncertainty and urged clearer, repeated communications: “Please help us calm this chaos. Please create an understandable process for decision making that is clearly and consistently communicated.”

Staff detailed specific transition work underway: identifying classroom spaces for special education programs displaced by campus consolidations, revising intra‑district transfer prioritization to allow siblings to remain together, and mapping electives and athletics so middle‑school students who shift campuses retain access to courses and sports. District staff said transfer requests will remain open through the weekend and families will be notified early in the week following spring break.

The board also addressed a public debate about Elsie Allen (L.C. Allen) High School. Trustees rejected a motion to preserve Elsie Allen’s attendance boundary in perpetuity and a separate motion to convert the campus to a 7–12 site for 2025–26. Both motions failed after extended discussion and public comment. Dozens of neighbors and students urged the board to preserve the campus’s local identity; other trustees said the board had already approved a compromise in February to keep Elsie Allen operating with a planned new program model and that reopening the closure question would undercut forward progress.

In a separate but related vote, the board approved establishing an ad hoc committee to coordinate SCO support. The motion named Trustees Rusty Casten, Estee Manieri and Trustee De La Torre to the committee, and the board accepted SCO’s offer to fund and staff six short‑term supports, including fiscal crisis management assistance, special education coordination and campus safety planning. Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Carter said SCO would provide experts from FCMAT, SELPA and other teams to do technical work at no cost to the district.

Votes at a glance (selected outcomes) - Second interim budget (adopt scenario 1) — passed (roll call majority). The district certified a qualified second‑interim report and presented three contingency scenarios showing a narrow path to solvency in subsequent years depending on one‑time funding, enrollment recapture and spending reductions. - Ad hoc SCO partnership and committee appointments — passed (unanimous). The board approved a county‑funded partnership and appointed Trustees Casten, Manieri and De La Torre to the ad hoc committee. - Motions to guarantee Elsie Allen attendance boundary and to convert Elsie Allen to a 7–12 campus for 2025–26 — both failed (no majority). - Multiple resolutions (Arts Education Month, Women’s History Month) and routine labor/civil‑service calendar items — passed unanimously or by roll call.

District next steps and context District leaders said the empowerment teams will be the primary venue for many decisions that affect classrooms and student experience, and weekly communications will summarize progress. Central staff and SCO teams will work on capacity mapping, special education placements, food service and technology logistics. The district also said it will keep some school site CDS codes open in strategic cases so state grant funding, including programmatic funds such as Prop 28 arts grants, can be preserved where possible.

Public comment at the meeting was wide ranging. Elementary teachers and parents urged robust supports for younger students and continuity for displaced staff; a middle‑school music student described the importance of band and choir. Community members from Southwest Santa Rosa voiced concern that the removal of an Elsie Allen boundary would harm neighborhood access to a local campus and risk worsening longstanding equity gaps.

The board’s choices mark the start of an implementation phase the district called ‘‘a busy and difficult 12‑month stretch’’ with multiple workstreams. District and county officials said they would provide frequent updates to the board and community and post empowerment team notes publicly to increase transparency.

Ending: The board’s votes set in motion detailed operational work — from room assignments to athletics schedules to negotiating labor impacts — that district staff and the county office now must carry out in the weeks before summer. The district said it will return with updates at the next meetings and will present a third‑interim budget in May that will reflect updated enrollment and negotiated outcomes.