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Central Unified approves MOU and layoffs for classified instructional-aid roles amid community outcry
Summary
The board adopted a ratified MOU with CSEA and passed a resolution to reduce or reconfigure classified instructional-aid hours for 2026' 2027, projecting roughly $4.5 million in savings. Dozens of teachers, aides and parents urged the board to protect early-childhood and special-education staffing.
The Central Unified Board on Feb. 24 adopted a negotiated memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the California School Employees Association (CSEA), chapter 474, and approved a companion resolution (2526-33) implementing reductions and reconfigurations of certain classified instructional-aide and special-education positions for the 2026' 2027 school year.
Administration said the negotiated actions were projected to generate approximately $4.5 million in ongoing general-fund savings. The MOU had been ratified by CSEA on Feb. 18, 2026, and the board adopted it at the meeting.
Public comment was extensive and nearly uniformly opposed to the reductions. Dozens of teachers, instructional aides, special-education staff and parents described aides as "essential" in TK and kindergarten classrooms and for students with disabilities. "Instructional aids are not an extra support. They are essential in the early childhood classrooms," said Kim Manuelian, a teacher with 31 years' experience. Another aide, Desiree Lewis, described the loss of full-time jobs and benefits she and colleagues would face.
Administration and board members stressed they worked with educational services to ensure state-required adult-to-child ratios in TK classrooms are maintained under the proposal. District staff said the proposal would keep TK aide assignments at 5.5 hours per day but reduce kindergarten aide assignments to about 3.75 hours in some cases. District data provided during discussion: 130 instructional-aid positions exist on paper, with about 15 vacancies; under the proposal the district would not backfill those vacancies and would reduce the number of posted positions to 100, affecting roughly 15 aides directly and producing contract-hour reductions more widely.
Trustees and staff acknowledged the human impacts of the decision. "This is the most painful decision I've had to make as a trustee," said Trustee Keron during board discussion. Trustees emphasized the cuts were driven by one-time funding ending and the district's fiscal projections.
Outcome: the board moved to adopt the MOU and then to adopt resolution 2526-33 (reduction/elimination of classified services) and both motions carried as recorded in the meeting minutes.
What to watch: trustees asked administration to monitor classroom impacts and to allow aides to apply for multiple part-time assignments where possible to preserve full-time hours and benefits. The board also committed to review staffing plans and to bring additional information about legal obligations and site-level impacts back to the board.
