[UPDATED] The United Teachers of Pasadena has adopted a resolution calling for “fully staffed, stable, integrated” schools across Pasadena Unified. A union representative read a statement summarizing the resolution to the Board of Education during the board’s June 11 meeting.
“This resolution is built around a simple principle,” the union’s statement told the board: “every student in Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre deserves access to a fully staffed, stable, integrated, and high-quality public school.”
The resolution arrives as the district works to close a projected 2026-27 budget shortfall its own figures put at $30 million to $35 million — pressures that have already driven layoffs and a now-paused school-consolidation review affecting campuses in Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. The union casts its document as an alternative course: invest in neighborhood schools rather than manage decline.
It calls on PUSD to minimize layoffs and involuntary transfers, protect direct student services, and preserve programs the union says families value most — among them arts, music, libraries, counseling, world languages, athletics, special education services, mental health supports and strong classroom instruction at every campus.
The resolution also asks the district to pursue a long-term enrollment-recovery strategy that strengthens neighborhood schools, advances racial and socioeconomic integration, ensures a high-quality educational experience across the district, and rebuilds public trust in the district.
It sets conditions on any future restructuring. Should the district pursue transformation efforts “such as consolidations,” the union calls for transparency, independent equity analysis, meaningful community engagement, protections for displaced students and staff, class-size caps and equitable reinvestment across all campuses.
The resolution states that the union “rejects any restructuring in which some schools are systematically under-resourced, chronically understaffed, racially and socioeconomically segregated, or deprived of enrichment opportunities while others are allowed to flourish.”
The union ties its concerns to the district’s recent fiscal decisions. PUSD enrollment has fallen from 17,267 students in 2014-15 to 13,228 in the current school year, a decline of about 23% that district projections attribute to factors including declining birth rates, the expiration of one-time pandemic relief funds and the January 2025 Eaton Fire, which damaged campuses in Altadena.
The resolution offers a longer view, stating that enrollment has dropped “from more than 23,000 students in 2000 to approximately 13,000 students today, with further declines projected.”
To help close the budget gap, the board on Feb. 26 voted 6-1 to approve sweeping staff reductions for 2026-27. “The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education made the difficult decision to reduce approximately 151 full-time-equivalent positions to address our financial challenges and ensure the district’s stability,” Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco said in a statement at the time. Blanco said the reductions were forced by declining enrollment, rising costs and the expiration of COVID-19 relief funds.
The union’s call for consolidation safeguards follows the district’s now-paused review of possible school closures. On May 28, the board voted against accepting a draft Equity Impact Analysis prepared as part of that process; the district subsequently said previously scheduled public hearings, a board retreat and board action on the process would not proceed as planned. The district’s School Consolidation Advisory Committee had concluded its work May 11. The review was launched under Board Resolution 2852, “Establishing Optimal School Sizes,” and the district adopted equity metrics outlined in AB 1912, a state law that calls for an equity impact analysis, community engagement and transparency. An earlier draft list had identified campuses including Don Benito, Webster, Norma Coombs, McKinley, Eliot Arts Magnet, Thurgood Marshall and Blair for possible closure or consolidation.
The district has not publicly responded to the union’s resolution. United Teachers of Pasadena President Jonathan Gardner has pressed the union’s staffing message in earlier appearances; at the February board meeting he said,”The best thing for kids and staff is always stability and making sure that we have full staff.”
The resolution further calls on the district to spend above what the union describes as a legally mandated 55% minimum on classroom instruction, to reduce central-office and non-classroom administrative costs where feasible, to minimize reliance on contracted services, and to adopt a districtwide Community Schools framework coordinating academic, health, social-service, after-school and family-engagement assets across all school sites.
The union says it will distribute the resolution widely — to local elected officials, community organizations, parent groups, labor partners and the broader Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre community.
“Our message is simple,” UTP said, “the path forward is not managed decline. The path forward is investing in stable, well-resourced, integrated schools that give families reasons to choose and remain in PUSD.”
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