By Jon Chown
WATSONVILLE — The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees was forced to schedule an emergency meeting on Sept. 30 in order to save millions of dollars in state funding.
The emergency was caused by PVUSD Trustee Gabriel Medina’s refusal to sign off on the district’s Prop. 28 report to the state, which was part of the Consent Agenda during the PVUSD board meeting on Sept. 16.
“How many times have I asked you to bring us a Prop. 28 report?” Medina asked.
The report, required by the state, was brief and less than one page long. It stated that the equivalent of 14.2 teachers are providing programs with Arts and Music in Schools funds, along with 1.06 classified employees. They are serving 14,100 students at 30 sites.
According to PVUSD staff, the report was created from a template that CDE (California Department of Education) provides for approval by the board, which is required and mandated by Sept. 30.
“If we don’t, then we will have to return the money back to CDE,” PVUSD staff advised the trustees.
Medina had wanted far more. He had wanted a presentation, which staff advised they were ready to give. However, Medina said he had wanted the presentation attached to the agenda so the public could view it beforehand.
“So I’m not going to vote for this if that doesn’t get moved and we have a special meeting because I want the community to be able to see that presentation,” he said.
PVUSD Superintendent Heather Contreras pointed out that all of the budgeting regarding the Prop. 28 funds was provided in the packet, as it contained the district’s overall budget.
PVUSD spent $2.9 million in Prop. 28 money during fiscal year 2025-26, according to the financial schedules in the Sept. 16 agenda packet. Of that, $225,643 went to charter schools. Little else could be determined from the information given.
“I wanted a slide deck of the information of what we are doing with our arts within our community with Prop. 28,” Medina said. “So unless you meet my standards I am going to vote ‘no.’”
Just four trustees of the seven were present. Trustee Joy Flynn rarely attends meetings. Trustee Daniel Dodge had announced he would be late to arrive, and Trustee Misty Navarro, an emergency physician, was missing due to work. Without Medina’s vote, the issue was dead.
“So that leads me back to what is the date where we’re going to have a special meeting to talk about this because we have to get it done by Sept. 30 or we will have to give that money back,” said Board Chair Carol Turley.
The board took a five-minute recess hoping Dodge might show, but he did not.
“It’s a shame we would have to potentially lose funds for our students,” Trustee Olivia Flores observed.
The board then voted to remove the Prop. 28 report from the consent agenda and set a special meeting for Sept. 30. If four board members are not present or vote to approve the document on that date, the district stands to lose the Prop. 28 funds.