PHOENIX — In a meeting that lasted more than four hours, the Phoenix Union High School District board voted to continue the process to reduce its workforce.
The district projects it needs to make up a roughly $35 million deficit over the next two school years.
In a letter to staff in late October, Superintendent Thea Andrade said the district saw a decline of about 1,800 students this school year. Last year, they saw a decrease of about 1,200 students, totaling around 3,000 students in the last two years. The letter said it’s a loss of about 10% of the overall student population since 2022.
PXU is grappling with a decline in enrollment, much like other districts, meaning they also lose state funding.
In trying to make up that deficit, the district is choosing to cut positions. Other districts, like Mesa Public Schools, made those same decisions in the past few years.
Andrade said they plan to cut about 6% of their 3,000-employee workforce.
On Thursday night, the district presented a preliminary list of positions to cut to the governing board. There were 167 positions; the superintendent said 41 of them are currently vacant.
In the list presented, it included assistant principals, certified, and classified staff.
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"This is not theoretical. This is not a nice to have. This is safety. This is prevention. This is lifesaving support. They are needed,” a district social worker said in public comment. On the reduction in force (RIF) list, it included staff health and wellness clinicians.
Superintendent Andrade also addressed safety concerns community members had in getting rid of some of the positions. For example, the list included getting rid of one safety director position. However, Andrade said they currently have three.
After much discussion from all board members, it came down to a 5-1 vote. Board member Jeremiah Cota was the sole ’no’ vote.
"These are people's livelihoods. These are families. These are the people who cared for our students. And again, if we weren’t forced to make this vote because we don't have the funding, we don’t have funding. It’s either RIFs or closing campuses,” said Ceysha Napa, the board president, before voting yes.
Now that the board voted to move forward, the district will also start having more meetings to discuss phase two of the reduction-in-force. Both RIF lists for phases one and two will be presented to the governing board in February.
