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Parents and educators urge Pasadena Unified to cancel TSS contract, warn against school closures
Summary
Dozens of parents, teachers and students urged the Pasadena Unified School District board to terminate its contract with consultant Total School Solutions (TSS) and to rescind resolutions that could restart school‑closure planning, arguing closures would not fix structural budget problems and would erode community trust.
Dozens of parents, teachers and students used the board’s public‑comment periods to press trustees to cancel the Total School Solutions contract and stop any immediate consolidation plans.
“Fewer schools and stronger schools,” said Peter Drier, a longtime Pasadena resident, praising the superintendent’s decision to commission an equity impact analysis while urging trustees not to “bury our head in the sands.” Several other commenters, including data analysts and academics, told the board they had reviewed published budgets and national studies and found that closures typically do not deliver the long‑term fiscal relief districts expect.
Associate dean Patrick Kates, who cited a recent Stanford study, said school closures in other California districts often failed to shrink deficits because families left after closures. “Terminating this contract is the right first step,” he said, urging the board to resend and re‑consider Resolution 2852 only after broader community engagement.
Speakers repeatedly urged the board to focus on revenue optimization, enrollment growth and more transparent, community‑based planning rather than a consultant‑led push toward closures. Commenters from several neighborhoods emphasized that the district has unique assets — programs that attract out‑of‑district students and bond investments in facilities — and said those should be leveraged before contemplating more closures.
Multiple speakers also raised procedural concerns tied to a separate item: one public commenter urged the board to “cure and correct” alleged Brown Act violations rather than entering costly litigation that would divert funds from classrooms.
The board announced two actions taken in closed session earlier in the meeting: it voted 4–3 to release a media statement regarding alleged Brown Act violations (action C1) and approved the superintendent’s evaluation (action C2) by a 6–1 vote. Those formal votes were separate from the public‑comment calls to terminate the TSS contract.
Trustees did not take immediate additional action on the TSS contract at this meeting; several speakers said they would watch for any return of consolidation proposals and press the board for a different engagement process.
The board is scheduled to adopt the 2026–27 budget at an upcoming meeting; multiple public commenters urged the district to prioritize long‑term enrollment strategies, investments in programming, and transparent accounting of bond and one‑time funds before pursuing closures.
