Three Tri-Valley school districts are facing significant financial dilemmas heading into next year, with budget cuts and potential layoffs threatening to hit classrooms.
Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore schools are all grappling with multi-million dollar budget deficits in the 2026-27 school year, with the districts citing declining enrollment and decreased state and federal funding as having created budget holes that will likely lead to difficult decisions.
Livermore Valley Joint Unified schools face $16.3 million in potential cuts through the next two school years. Dublin Unified schools are planning $6.8 million in budget cuts to fill an expected $8.4 million deficit through the 2026-27 school year. The Pleasanton Unified school board also recently voted unanimously to cut over 13 full-time jobs to save just under $1.5 million through the next school year.
The Livermore school board is searching for a way to cut $14.8 million through the next school year and an additional $1.5 million through the following year. At its Jan. 20 meeting, the board decided to take school closures off the list of possible cost-saving options after scores of residents and families showed up at recent meetings to voice their concerns.
The board voted unanimously to do away with the idea of closing elementary schools, on the recommendation of Trustee Emily Prusso.
“I don’t know why they were put on, so I would certainly have no apprehension about taking them off,” Trustee Craig Bueno said. “I know it’s caused a visceral reaction. It’s very polarizing …it puts a lot of fear in people, our community and our people that work here.”
Superintendent Torie Gibson told the board that the closures were on the list of potential cuts because “one if not two” board members had previously asked her to put them there, and she challenged those members to publicly “own it.” However, nobody on the board took such credit.
“The number we have to get to is going to be deep,” Gibson said. “We will not be able to keep it away from kids, unfortunately.”
Board President Steven Drouin called the district’s financial circumstances a “dire situation,” and suggested multiple town halls with the community to help gather feedback on how to move forward. He noted the board must make some decisions within about a month in order to meet a March 15 deadline to send pink slips to teachers who could face layoffs.
The board will discuss the potential cuts at its next meeting on Feb. 10.
JuNelle Harris, a Livermore mother to a second grade student in the district, had just one question for the board.
“How do we know that we’re not going to be in the same position a year from now?” Harris asked.
In Dublin, the school board decided to approve about $6.6 million in cuts, including about $3.87 million from the district office and $2.97 million from school sites. This includes shuttering Valley High School, a continuation program housed at Dublin High School.
The board also approved cutting positions at multiple school sites, including assistant principals, high school teachers, special education specialists, custodians and secretaries, as well as the district’s only communications director. At the same time, the district began a search for a new leader after Superintendent Chris Funk announced his retirement.
This comes after the district in 2024 opened up Emerald High School, the newest high school in Alameda County in over 50 years, to the tune of $374 million.
Board President Kristin Speck said “none of us want to make these cuts.” She suggested that the district revisit eliminating their only communications director, and opposed cutting $200,000 for the district’s summer school programs, which the board voted unanimously to approve.
Dublin Teachers Association President Brad Dobrzenski told the board that the district’s students “deserve the best,” and he criticized the board for the cuts it is expected to make.
“Tonight’s board agenda is rife with resolutions proposed by your management team that serve only to harm Dublin students,” he said. “From cuts to site-based educators, and programs that directly serve the needs of our students, to suggesting that you reject opportunities to save money. It has never been more clear that our district requires new leadership.”
He noted that his union “unequivocally declared that they have no confidence in Superintendent Funk,” and said the board needs to “take action to change the direction our district is heading and hold the superintendent accountable.”
Trustee Kristian Reyes said the realities of these cuts will be “hard” for students and parents to face, and said he “cannot in good conscience” assure families that their students will be getting the same quality of education as before.
“This hurts a lot of people in a lot of ways, “Reyes said. “I am satisfied with most of what we are doing to try to address some of these issues. But it does break my heart to see some of our most needy students have to suffer.”
In Pleasanton, with little discussion and no public comments, the school board on Jan. 15 decided to approve cutting 13.5 full-time employees to save $1.437 million. The cuts included about $985,000 in non-management funding and $452,000 in management funding.
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