First Interim and Board Reorganization

The Wednesday, December 17, 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 SCCOE's Employee of the Month, Ron Lauder. Mr. Lauder is a Program Lead at Walden West and has worked for the SCCOE for 28 years! Mr. Lauder is in charge of organizing all the activities for each school group and communicating with each school's point of contact. He was was chosen for his excellence, compassion, and sheer joy. The SCCBOE will also recognize Santa Clara County's Youth Poet Laureate, Kurn Sundaram. He is a performance poet whose work has been published in multiple publications with many accolades beyond the one he will be receiving from us.

Next, the Board will hear Reports from SCCOE Bargaining Units (which include its teaching and staff unions, among others), followed by 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.

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 resolutions recognizing Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution and National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, along with requests to approve acceptance of specific donations. You can read more about all of them under agenda items 5 and 6.

The Board will next Discuss and Make an Appointment to the CSBA Regional Delegate Seat. The California School Boards Association (CSBA) Delegates serve as a critical link between local governing boards and the statewide association, ensuring that the interests of school districts and county offices of education are represented at the state level. Board President Maimona Afzal Berta currently holds the seat. This is an action item and the Board must appoint a representative to the seat.

Stephanie Gomez will then present Budget Revisions for the Months of October and November 2025. This is an action item and her supporting documentation can be found under agenda items 7B and C. There was an increase in revenues (and similar increase in expendiures) totaling more than $34 million. The biggest increase was for the California State Preschool Program to align with the SCCOE's contract with the state to the tune of $22 million.

Next the Board will consider Approving Board Bylaws 9005, 9007, 9011, 9124, 9322 and 9323. These are action items and board bylaws can be found under agenda items 7D through I. The Board appointed President Maimona Afzal Berta, Vice President Victoria Chon, and myself to serve on an Ad Hoc Governance Committee to identify and work towards implementation of stricter SCCOE fiscal controls and board policy reforms (many of which had not been updated in 15 years) in reaction to a discovery that in recent years there was evidence of practices and conduct in contravention of current SCCOE policies.

Then, Stephanie Gomez will then present the 2025-2026 First Interim Financial Report. This is an information item and her presentation, the report and other supporting documentation can be found under agenda item 8A. Our adopted budget expected roughly $379 million in revenues and roughly $396 million in expenditures. Our 1st interim is showing roughly $415 million in revenues and $465 million in expenditures. The good news is that we can positively certify our First Interim as we are expected to meet our fiscal obligations for this year and the two following years. However, we are currently facing challenges with lowering enrollment countywide and increases in costs to run our programs as every year progresses.

The Board will then commence its Annual Organizational Meeting. This involves the Board electing a Board President and Board Vice President, adopting a 2026 Board Meeting Calendar, discussing and acting upon an Annual Board Compensation Increase, approval of Routine Travel for 2026, and discussion of Board Subcommittee appointments. Most of these are action items and supporting documentation, where appropriate, can be found under agenda items 9A through H.

The Board will next go into Closed Session to discuss anticipated litigation and active litigation, among other things.

Please note, these are just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 12/17/25 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.