Board approves reduced training allotment, sets $2,000 per trustee and $1,000 for delegate

Trustees voted 4–1 (one abstention) to allocate a reduced training and operations budget for the 2025–26 year after a lengthy discussion about conference costs, substitutes for teacher-board members and the value of different professional-development venues.

Superintendent Cruz reviewed the board budget after a 10% districtwide reduction and explained that CSBA membership, BoardDocs licensing and community meeting costs consume most of the allocation. He said the remaining funds totaled about $13,000 after those baseline items were accounted for.

Trustees debated options: Trustee Cooper raised concerns about limiting travel access and emphasized equal opportunity to attend trainings; Trustee Rodriguez urged protecting substitute coverage for board members who are active teachers so those trustees could make school visits without bearing the cost personally; Trustee Rodriguez and others proposed dividing funds so each trustee could have a personal allocation to spend as they choose. Trustees discussed typical conference costs (examples offered: ~$8,000 for a California Latino School Boards Association trip for the whole board; ~$6,000 for CSBA AEC for the whole board) and the need to balance a delegate’s attendance at the CSBA assembly.

After deliberation, Trustee 9 moved to allocate $2,000 per board member (total $10,000), $1,000 for the CSBA delegate and $2,000 for general operation/retreat/sub coverage; the motion was seconded and approved with one abstention. The superintendent said staff would track expenditures in a spreadsheet and could provide board members with reporting about year-to-date spending.

The allocation leaves individual trustees responsible for deciding how to spend their $2,000 allotment (conference fees, travel, subs) and preserves a smaller operational pot to cover retreats or substitute costs for teacher-trustees.