DJUSD looks to cut $4 million from budget

Trustees discuss budget timelines, math curriculum and teacher negotiations at impasse in early October meeting

By MADELYN SEVIGNY — city@theaggie.org

At the Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD) meeting on Oct. 1, trustees acknowledged awareness months, discussed a budget reduction timeline and considered new math curriculum pilots.

The meeting began with comments from Superintendent Matt Best, announcing that the district will be observing October as Filipino American History Month, Farm to School Month, Dyslexia Awareness Month, Down Syndrome Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Afterward, comments were made about the negotiations between DJUSD and the Davis Teachers Association (DTA), with a report from DTA Vice President and Grievance Chair Dianna Stommel. On Sept. 10, the DTA declared impasse, meaning the district and DTA have been unable to reach an agreement through negotiations. The next step is for a state-appointed mediator to help the two sides continue working toward an agreement.

“We are at impasse now and what is especially difficult is that we are at impasse over something as fundamental as being able to afford our healthcare,” Stommel said.

Following DTA comments, the meeting moved onto planned agenda items, including the discussion of a budget reduction timeline.

DJUSD is preparing to make $4 million in budget cuts this school year, due in part to DJUSD facing the loss of over 1,000 students in the next ten years. With DJUSD funding depending on average daily attendance, fewer students directly translates to less state funding.

Best began discussion about how the information should be communicated with the public.

“I think there's a tension here about when in the year this activity should happen, what sort of access we want people to have, [...] whether or not it is in person and sort of the quality of the recording,” Best said.

Best also brought up how questions from the community could be answered.

“The next part is about Q&A [...] we are going to get questions that we cannot answer in real time, so just being able to sort that out and make sure those do get answered in a meaningful way,” Best said.

Trustee Elizabeth Moon asked Best to clarify what will be cut when the budget is reduced.

“So when we're looking at the budget reduction timeline, [...] when we're talking about reductions we're talking about people?” Moon said.

Best explained that the majority of the reductions are expected to be layoffs.

“Correct yeah, 85% of our budget is people,” Best said. “And you have one opportunity to reduce those costs, and you need to make that decision before March 15.”

Best and trustees discussed a six-month process leading up to eventual layoff decisions, the state-mandated deadline for which is March 15. They will know more as the school year goes on, including when budget information on a state level is made public in early 2027, according to Best.

“The governor’s January budget [...] is a prime indicator about what the financial conditions will likely be for the text year,” Best said.

Colleen Zern, a parent of DJUSD students and Area 1 school board candidate, made a public comment expressing gratitude for the open conversation and encouraged district officials to share additional information or updates as widely as possible.

“The more educated our community can be on this, the better this process is going to go for everyone,” Zern said.

Trustee Joe DiNunzio discussed the scope of the budget cuts and all of the factors that need to be considered.

“There’s not one thing that’s going to solve this,” DiNunzio said. “This is part of a process, [...] we need to be thinking in the context of multiple years of declining enrollment, reduced budget and budget cuts.”

Trustees also discussed updates to the new mathematics pilot and adoption. The district began moving to new frameworks following a 2023 California State Board of Education decision to  move away from a traditional standard lecture-a-day model toward problem-solving and productive struggle models with grade-level big ideas.

DJUSD partnered with the UC Davis Math Project to narrow down to two curriculums to pilot: Thinking Math and Math Nation. Each curriculum will have a six-week pilot period, followed by student and family feedback. 

Evaluations and decisions on which curriculum to implement will be made early 2027, and if a program is adopted, full implementation will take place fall 2027.

DJUSD also met Oct. 15, where they discussed advancing feelings of community in the district. The next DJUSD meeting will be held on Nov. 5, where the board will review their community budget presentation.

Written By: Madelyn Sevigny — city@theaggie.org