Monterey Peninsula Unified School District is facing a tough financial situation as decreasing enrollment, reduced funding and a dire state budget deficit has left the district scrambling to ensure it will be fiscally solvent in the coming years, district Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh said.
“The hope is that we won’t need this forever and we will be able to provide access and connections to more stable housing for these families,” said the district's superintendent PK Diffenbaugh. “But unfortunately we have a number of families who are currently unhoused and until we are able to provide more affordable housing as a community, I fear that’s going to be the norm for the foreseeable future.”
“Historically, training has been when the employee gives up their time (and) they’re not paid for it,” said Tom Thorpe, the district’s director of transportation. “So we figured we needed to have a way to incentivize that and bring in new recruits.”
It’s a busy week for school boards, with governing boards from all the districts on the Peninsula scheduled to meet. Here are the school board meetings to keep an eye on this week.