‘Delay Is Not a Financial Strategy,’ Pasadena School Board Trustee Tells Colleagues

Trustee Yarma Velázquez used Thursday’s Pasadena Unified School District year-end financial presentation to say colleagues opposing school consolidation have proposed no alternative, before Board President Tina Fredericks ruled the remarks out of order.

Velázquez spoke again later in the meeting, during discussion of an action item, saying “criticism alone, it’s not a substitute of policy.” Fredericks said those remarks were “also out of order,” and another trustee objected to what she called “backhanded criticisms of people on this dais.”

“Over the last year, the members who have opposed consolidation in this board have not proposed a single policy for consideration or even a resolution that provides an alternative path to the financial conditions of this district,” Velázquez said during the presentation item. “Consolidation may be a tool, but it doesn’t have to be the only tool.”

Velázquez did not name the trustees she was referring to.

The exchanges came at a special meeting at which the Board of Education heard a staff presentation on the District’s unaudited actuals for Fiscal Year 2025-26 and then approved certifying the figures for filing with the Los Angeles County Office of Education, known as LACOE.

Fredericks interrupted Velázquez during her remarks on the presentation item, telling her she was out of order. Velázquez continued speaking.

After Velázquez finished, Fredericks said, “Presentations are clarifying questions and comments, not advocacy. That was out of order. … Action items can be advocacy, but for the vote of the item. This is a staff presentation.”

Fredericks said trustees may ask clarifying questions and comment on a presentation, “but there is no advocacy on these informational staff presentations.”

Velázquez’s remarks followed her own questions to staff about the year’s results. Excluding fire-related expenses, the District’s operating fund ran a deficit of $4.68 million for the year and, after $1.5 million in other financing uses, deficit spending totaled $6.2 million, the presenter said.

Earlier in the meeting, public speakers had urged the Board to restore positions and services cut last year. One parent of two elementary students in the District, asked what the Board would restore. “Let’s use that money to transform today by putting it back into the classroom,” she said.

Velázquez asked staff how much the District had overspent. Told it was $4.6 million, she said, “And so when the audience came and said, oh, you have all of these millions of dollars  — we don’t. We are in negative 4.6, right?”

“The operating result for last year is basically we spent $4.6 million more than we took in,” the staff member presenting the report replied.

Asked whether the District should expect to make big reductions again, the presenter said, “Based on the results, no. I wouldn’t say we have to explore big reductions.”

He said the District would submit the results to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which would review them against the District’s fiscal stabilization plans. He said the results would not lead the county office to direct the District to explore expenditure reductions again.

“But we still need to explore expenditure reductions if we want to have a balanced budget,” Velázquez said.

“If you want a balanced budget, yes,” the presenter said.

Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco said she wanted “to make it clear to the public, although we’re ending up better than expected, we’re still deficit spending.”

Blanco said “our goal, I think for all of us is wanting to have fair compensation, living wages for our employees,” adding, “And in order to be able to do that, we have less students, so we should have less employees.” She said the District still wants to provide services to the students who need them most with its staff. She also said the District should not immediately start thinking about new spending “because we want to get our budget in line so we’re not getting letters from the county telling us that we’re deficit spending.”

The exchanges come ahead of recommendations on under-enrolled schools, which a resolution the Board approved in December 2025 calls for around October. Velázquez’s seat is on the Nov. 3 ballot. Fredericks and Trustee Scott Harden face a recall effort.

In August, Trustee Kimberly Kenne moved language on “alternatives to school consolidation” into the Board’s district transformation process, Pasadena Now reported.

In other action Thursday, the Board approved a request for an exemption from the state’s classroom expenditure requirement for Fiscal Year 2025-26, for submission to the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

The Board also approved Resolution No. 2904, setting the District’s revised 2025-26 and estimated 2026-27 Gann appropriation limits. It approved Resolution No. 2905, designating District representatives to seek federal and state disaster assistance and reimbursement. The presenter said the resolution updates the list of authorized signatories to include him.

The Board also approved a memorandum of understanding with the City of Pasadena for District use of the Allendale Park baseball field during designated school hours.

Before the open session, the Board met in closed session with legal counsel on two existing lawsuits: Case No. 26STCP01644, and Pasadena Unified School District v. The City of Pasadena, Case No. 26STCP02735. The Board announced no reportable action.