School Board May Vote Thursday On Final Details of District’s Transformation Process

The Pasadena Board of Education will consider Thursday whether to continue its current approach to defining the District Transformation Process, use a ‘committee of the whole’ or direct the superintendent and district staff to develop a proposed definition.

The Board may vote to keep or change the committee of the whole that now oversees the work. If the structure it approves allows, it may also select committee members, if needed, and a chair at the meeting. The meeting is set to begin at 7 p.m. and also includes a preliminary forecast from the District’s demographer.

The process traces to Resolution 2894, which the Board adopted June 25 on a 4-3 vote to replace Resolution 2852, its resolution establishing optimal school sizes.

The resolution cites declining enrollment, budget reductions that have cut services and programs for students, and operating deficits the District still faces for the next three years. It does not directly mandate the closure orconsolidation of any school.

Three versions of the draft definition are attached to Thursday’s discussion item. The version prepared for the meeting says that by the end of the process the Board will vote on how to manage existing assets, including “considering alternatives to school consolidation” and “analyzing the impact of inaction on school consolidation.”

A longer version updated Oct. 6 lists among its end-of-process decisions an item to “consolidate schools and/or establish a new school configuration to more closely align enrollment projections as an option to achieve the goals contained in this definition of the District Transformation Process.” It also describes a “process to review and evaluate all options,” including alternatives to consolidation. A third version was posted Oct. 7.

Resolution 2894 notes that a proposed Equity Impact Analysis report on potential school consolidation scenarios was not accepted. According to a presentation by Prospect Studio, a consultancy scheduled to address the Board Thursday, the Superintendent’s School Consolidation Advisory Committee met from March to May 2026 and did not recommend closing schools “at this time.”

The preliminary student body size forecast, prepared by National Demographics Corporation, puts current enrollment at 12,676 students, based on unofficial “Day 3” headcounts for fall 2026.

That is a little more than half of the District’s peak of 23,559 in 2000.

Under the ‘medium scenario,’ enrollment falls to 10,176 by 2036, a decline of about 20 percent. The high and low scenarios end at 11,458 and 8,269 students, declines of about 10 and 35 percent.

According to the presentation, a steep decline in births is driving enrollment losses in the District, Los Angeles County and statewide, and the District also loses students as families leave the area. Births to District residents are down 63 percent from a 1990 peak.

The forecast adds students expected to return as the Eaton Fire area is rebuilt. According to the presentation, 1,446 students enrolled in fall 2024 lived in the fire zone, and more than 80 percent of them remained in the District in fall 2025. The medium scenario assumes rebuilding is complete in early 2031 and adds a net 384 students.

“Students from fire rebuilds and new housing are not enough to offset the enrollment declines caused by fewer births,” according to the presentation.

Prospect Studio’s presentation says the superintendent invited the firm to share its process and approach for building a community-driven vision. The agenda describes the visioning item as an effort to engage the community in creating a “PUSD Vision 2037” over the next 10 years. The firm says a school district’s vision has a 10- to 15-year time horizon, while Resolution 2894, the meeting draft and the Oct. 6 draft frame the community’s vision around the next five to 10 years.

Resolution 2894 says the Board will discuss scheduling community engagement sessions with community partners, and it states, “Student input will be prioritized.”

IF YOU GO: The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in the Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room, Room 236, 351 S. Hudson Ave., Pasadena. Public comment is limited to agenda items. Speakers have up to three minutes, which the Board may reduce to one or two minutes if comments would run longer than 30 minutes. Written comments may be emailed to publiccomment@pusd.us, clearly marked “Public Comment”; they are not read aloud at the meeting but become part of the archived agenda documents. Spanish interpretation is available at the meeting.

Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room, Room 236, 351 S. Hudson Ave., Pasadena. Thursday, Oct. 8, 7 p.m. For more call (626) 396-3619 or visit https://www.boardmeetings.info.