Unaudited Financials and Division Updates

The unaudited expenditures for the SCCOE for fiscal year 24/25

The Wednesday, October 15, 2025, Santa Clara County Board of Education (SCCBOE) meeting will start at 5:00pm. Contemporaneous public comments may only be made in person in the San Jose Room of the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE). Community members can follow SCCBOE meetings at home by clinking on this link and scrolling down to the Watch Live heading. If you cannot attend in person, and have a comment that you would like the SCCBOE to consider in its decision making, please email all of us prior to the board meeting at SCCBOEMembers@sccoe.org. The entire agenda and supporting documentation for this coming week's meeting can be found here.

First up on the agenda, the SCCBOE will recognize SCCBOE's Authorized Charter Schools and the SCCOE's Teacher of the Year for 2025. On October 27, 2025, the SCCOE will commemorate and celebrate the 55th annual Santa Clara County Teacher Recognition Celebration. The celebration recognizes teachers from all the 31 school local school districts and the SCCOE. This year, the SCCOE Teacher of the Year is Annie Kretowicz of the SCCOE's Opportunity Youth Academy. Ms. Kretowicz was chosen for her skill and creativity in the classroom, leadership and communication skills, involvement in professional development, and for her commitment to students, school, and community.

Next, the SCCBOE will receive the Student Board Member Report, and then hear Public Comments of Persons Desiring to Address the Board (for non-Agendized items). Participants are given 2 minutes at most to address the Board, and the Board is not permitted to engage on the subject matter because it is not agendized. Next, the Board will hear Reports from SCCOE Bargaining Units (which include its teaching and staff unions, among others).

Then, the Board will consider approving its Consent Action and Information Items. The consent part of an agenda generally includes non-controversial subject matters that can be approved all together if the Board all deems the items non-controversial and chooses not to pull any for discussion. For the SCCBOE, this part of the agenda typically includes minutes from the prior meeting, resolutions recognizing ethnic groups the county serves, specific educational initiatives, outside donations the county has received, disposition of surplus items, Head Start program reports, approval of board policy updates, and employee compensation increases over a certain threshold. This meeting's agenda includes a resolution recognizing National Homeless Youth Awareness Month, along with requests to approve a resolution to Identify the Gann Appropriations Limit, certify the 2025 Attendance Supervisors Certification List of Participants, requests to accept specific donations, request to approve Williams Quarterly Settlement, and The Head Start/Early Head Start Monthly Board Report. You can read more about all of them under agenda items 6 and 7.

Stephanie Gomez will next present Budget Revisions for the Month of September 2025. This is an action item and her presentation and supporting documentation can be found under agenda item 8A. There was an increase in revenues totaling more than $470,000 for the restricted purposes of prevention education, early learning, arts education, inclusive learning, and charter oversight.

Dr. Matt Wayne, Assistant Superintendent, Educational Services, will then present the Head Start Grants Data Procedures. This is an action item and the presentation and procedures can be found under agenda item 8B. The Board is asked to approve these procedures that are put in place to ensure data privacy and management of children's records.

Next, Dr. Deborah Gorgulho, Assistant Superintendent, Instruction, Leadership & Innovation, will give an Update on the Instruction, Leadership, and Innovation Division. This is an informational item with no action required. Her presentation can be found under agenda item 9A. This division includes the Educator Preparation Program, Youth Health and Wellness, Learning and Instruction, Innovations Collaborative, and Continuous Improvement and Accountability departments.

Then, Stephanie Gomez will present the 2024-25 County School Service Fund Unaudited Actuals Financial Report. This is an informational item with no action required. Her presentation, the budget book and the exhaustive unaudited actuals can be found under agenda item 9B. In FY 24-25, the SCCOE took in $398.3 million in revenues ($33.3 million less than budgeted), and expended $404 million ($78.4 million less than budgeted), with nearly $54 million of Local Property Taxes returned to the state to pay court services, as required by law.

Dr. Toston will next present a Revised Budget Process. This is an informational item with no action required. His presentation can be found under agenda item 9C. He envisions an engaged process with period board updates and structured discussions, with equity at its core for all those involved. The objective is a transparent, inclusive, and responsive budget development process that reflects the myriad of all departmental priorities, incorporating team voice, and in the end ensuring responsible stewardship of public funds.

Dr. Wayne will then present an Informational Update on Head Start. This is an informational item with no action required. His presentation can be found under agenda item 9D. The only new information shared in this update is that the federal government has determined that all areas of non-compliance have been corrected.

Next, Dr. Wayne will present the Local Performance Indicator: Teaching Assignment Monitoring Outcomes. This is an informational item with no action required. His documentation can be found under agenda item 9E. The document shows the certification compliance levels of all teachers directly employed by the SCCOE.

Then, Dr. Wayne will give an Educational Services Division Program Enrollment Update. This is an informational item with no action required. His presentation can be found under agenda item 9F. The presentation provides enrollment data as of 10/1 for all SCCOE programs, 5 year enrollment trends, and analysis of enrollment patterns and contributing factors. Our direct programs include Court and Community Schools, Early Learning Services (Head Start), Opportunity Youth Academy, and Special Education Clusters. Enrollment is important now because it is a critical time in which we begin planning for the next school year.

The Board will next go into Closed Session to hear 6 Interdistrict Attendance Appeals, begin discussions on Superintendent Evaluation, and to discuss anticipated litigation. It is important to note, the SCCBOE is an appellate body for local school district interdistrict transfer requests, charter school applications, and expulsion decisions. The process and criteria the Board must use is outlined in Board Policy 5117 found here.

Please note, these are just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 10/15/25 meeting. You can inform yourself about the rest of the agenda at the link provided above. As always, feel free to email me with any questions.