Fresno Unified finalized hundreds of layoffs tied to mental health and attendance services amid a growing deficit as state funding uncertainty looms.
A growing budget deficit is forcing Fresno Unified to make cuts that many educators say will land hardest on the students who rely on counseling, attendance support and other school-based services.
The Fresno Unified School District. California’s third-largest district serving about 70. 000 students. finalized hundreds of layoff notices this week as it works through its second consecutive year of deep reductions and faces what officials describe as an even larger financial gap.. District leaders say the state budget proposal later in the year is unlikely to fundamentally change the district’s situation. but the coming months will determine whether additional state funding can soften the impact of the decisions already made.
Among the roles being eliminated are positions tied to mental health and student support services.. The district finalized 229 layoffs, including preschool teachers, counselors, psychologists, campus safety staff and intervention specialists.. Officials frame the changes as part of a long-running effort to stabilize finances during post-pandemic budget tightening. while families. students and educators argue that the cuts are removing supports they consider essential.
Fresno Unified previously issued more than 260 preliminary layoff notices in February and March to close a projected $59 million deficit.. After that stage. the district identified a larger shortfall tied to costs related to special education and transportation. with district officials indicating those pressures will carry into the next year’s budget.
The district is entering its third consecutive school year of cuts.. In earlier rounds, Fresno Unified largely avoided reductions that reached the classroom.. This time. the focus is more directly on positions many students depend on for academic support. mental health services and efforts to address chronic absenteeism.
Superintendent Misty Her said last month that every decision involved difficult tradeoffs and that the district must balance its budget.. In its fiscal reporting. the district also says it has kept reserves above the state’s required 2% minimum. with $93.2 million set aside this year and a projected $61 million next year. even as staffing levels and program offerings are being reduced.
Across California, districts typically use layoffs to address large deficits.. Under state law. districts must send preliminary layoff notices by March 15 to employees who may lose their jobs. and many notices are later rescinded before May 15. the deadline for final layoff notices.. This year, sources indicate that at least 5,000 employees statewide received preliminary notices.
Fresno Unified followed that timetable, but its approach diverged from some districts that rescind many of the preliminary notices.. During a special board meeting, most of Fresno Unified’s notices were upheld.. Employees with seniority can move into similar open roles or take positions held by colleagues with less seniority. a process the district says is intended to manage the transition where possible.
The finalization of layoffs has also come as the board faced criticism over the size of the deficit and the scale of cuts aimed at student support services.. The concerns were amplified by the board’s recent vote to double its monthly stipend for board members even while the district is dealing with budget shortfalls.
With layoff decisions now in place, attention is shifting to how student services will be delivered with fewer staff and fewer hours, and whether state funding could reduce the district’s deficit enough to offset some of the hardest effects of the cuts.
The Fresno Teachers Association president. Manuel Bonilla. said earlier that the conversation should focus on classroom work and educators’ role with students rather than staffing “right-sizing” language.. He cited earlier budget patterns in which he argued management positions grew while enrollment declined and per-pupil spending increased. framing his remarks as a question of how the district allocates resources.
The district says this year’s budget approach was different in how the reductions were deployed.. For the 2024–25 school year. Fresno Unified concentrated reductions at the district level. aiming to cut $49 million by scaling back consultant contracts. eliminating vacant positions and moving teachers on special assignment back into classrooms.
Fresno Unified also cut programs. including the nearly $30 million Designated Schools initiative. which provided additional instruction but reportedly produced inconsistent results.. The district and the union reached an agreement on how student support would continue through other programs. with the goal of minimizing negative impacts on staffing.
Even with earlier efforts that avoided some classroom reductions, Fresno Unified’s longer-term staffing decisions appear to be tightening further.. In December, the district approved early retirement for 573 employees, a move projected to save $56 million over the next five years.. Some positions associated with that retirement plan will not be replaced, according to the district.
For the 2026–27 school year, Fresno Unified expects additional savings totaling $39 million. District leaders and staff describe those later cuts as likely to affect students and campuses more directly.
That shift has raised concerns because Fresno Unified expanded mental health staffing after the pandemic, building a larger network of school psychology, counseling and intervention roles to better identify students who need support and to connect families with services.
Abigail Arii. director of student support services for the district’s prevention and intervention department. said the district became accustomed to large support teams. particularly at middle and high schools.. As cuts are implemented. Arii says staffing expectations across schools are being lowered: middle schools will have one counselor instead of at least two. and high schools will have up to 10 counselors rather than 11.
Based on the cuts that have been approved. the district expects to eliminate 22 counselor positions. three psychologists. 14 child and welfare attendance specialists and 49 family liaison roles.. Students and educators say counselors and related staff play a crucial role in keeping students enrolled and connected to school resources.
Counseling work also supports post-secondary preparation. including helping students meet college admission requirements. navigate applications and financial aid. and learn about career and education pathways.. District officials say some college-and-career readiness counselor positions will be preserved: 10 counselor roles supported by $4.8 million from a district-teacher agreement will continue. while other counseling positions funded through one-time pandemic relief sources will end.
Foster youth and students experiencing homelessness may feel the loss of some of those counseling roles most sharply. Project ACCESS counselors, which district materials tie to those populations, are expected to be among the affected positions as one-time funding expires.
One family described how Project ACCESS staff supported their child in ways that extended beyond school paperwork. including helping with a prom dress and ticket. paying for Grad Night. and covering the basics for graduation such as a cap. gown and invitations.. The same family said another student participated in leadership activities and field trips during the period when Project ACCESS support was available.
At a board meeting on April 22, student Miriam Rosales said Project ACCESS gave her a chance to see her potential rather than being defined only by being in foster care.
The district has also relied on dedicated teams to combat chronic absenteeism. a metric tied to students missing 10% or more of school days in a year.. According to Cecilia Aguayo. a child welfare and attendance specialist who worked with the district in 2024 after it decreased chronic absence rates and reengaged students. attendance specialists use calls. home visits and family meetings alongside counseling to help students return.
Aguayo said attendance specialists are the only staff specifically addressing enrollment and attendance challenges the district faces, describing their work as directly connected to the issues cited for the budget cuts.
After the layoff decisions. Superintendent Her told trustees during an April 22 meeting that the district intends to keep student services operating. even with fewer positions and fewer hours.. Her said the district plans to eliminate certain roles while redistributing responsibilities to preserve core services.
Student support leaders cautioned. however. that spreading responsibilities across fewer employees can increase workloads and lead to burnout. which may undermine the quality or availability of services.. Arii acknowledged that the system will not look the same afterward. adding that services may shift away from where they were previously concentrated and that this could redirect need and resources into other areas.
The district has not yet finalized how it will coordinate those new staffing responsibilities, according to Arii.
Beyond counseling and attendance roles, the district’s planned reductions also include additional staffing that supports day-to-day learning and campus operations. The cuts include intervention specialists, nurses, paraprofessional roles and library technicians.
At the same time, state-level uncertainty is now part of the pressure on local district budgets.. Across California, education officials have called on Gov.. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature to scrap a plan that would withhold billions in education funding. which they say would trigger further cuts at the district level.. In January, Newsom proposed holding back $5.6 billion from constitutionally guaranteed Proposition 98 education funding.
Fresno Unified union and district leaders have joined protests and advocacy campaigns urging the governor to include those funds in the budget. Officials said that a revised state budget proposal will be released Thursday, though the district’s financial leadership is still seeking clarity.
Patrick Jensen. Fresno Unified’s chief financial officer. said he spoke with the governor’s staff last week but still lacks clear guidance on what the revised state budget might mean for the district.. Jensen described possible scenarios—such as ongoing support. one-time block grants or actions to refill the state’s rainy day fund—but he also said he did not expect any May revision changes to fundamentally alter the district’s decisions for this year.
For families and educators. the immediate question is how quickly the district can redesign student-facing support so it remains usable even as staffing is reduced.. For the district. the challenge is balancing a budget that officials say is constrained by declining enrollment. rising operational costs and the expiration of one-time federal pandemic relief funding. while still maintaining reserves and navigating what state leaders may or may not restore in the months ahead.
Fresno Unified layoffs school budget deficit counseling cuts chronic absenteeism student support services California education funding Proposition 98