Superintendent Dr. Damon Wright stood before a room full of hurt and frustrated students, staff, and community members to explain his very unpopular layoff plans. The presentation at the Thursday, Feb. 12 Santa Clara Unified Board of Trustees meeting wasn’t the final plan; that will come to the next board meeting. After that, the initial layoff notices will start to roll out.
The Plan
Dr. Wright made it clear that this is his plan, and the plan is to fix a $30 million structural deficit with rightsizing, aka layoffs. It’s not a secret that enrollment is declining and the district is overstaffed. He said they’re trying to be fair and are following California Education Codes and union collective bargaining agreements.
According to Board President Bonnie Lieberman, the district received a letter from the Santa Clara County Office of Education saying they must address their growing pattern of deficit spending. Otherwise, they’ll be put on a fiscal stabilization plan.
How did we get here? During the COVID-19 pandemic, the district received one-time funding, which was invested in students to help them through that time. There was also a staffing shortage, and the district increased compensation by 17.25% over three years to remain competitive. On the other side of the pandemic, they are faced with a $30 million deficit and declining enrollment while staffing levels remain high. A graph showed that since 2017, the district has increased by 515 staff members but decreased by 1206 students.
In June 2025, Mark Schiel, Deputy Superintendent / Chief Business Official, projected a $42.3 million deficit for the 2025-2026 school year and a $30 million deficit for the 2026-2027 school year. In December 2025, the first interim multi-year projections showed the deficit increased.
In December 2025, the district met with staff who would likely be impacted by the layoffs. Since then, the Santa Clara Unified community has been desperately advocating to save these people’s jobs…