Protect Antioch Students in Year Two: No More Cuts Without the Data
The Issue
Last year, Antioch Unified School District unveiled a budget crisis that resulted in major staffing reductions and disruption across our schools.
Special Education was not spared — it felt a disproportionate impact from the cuts.
Our district serves an incredibly diverse community. According to FCMAT’s May 2026 report, approximately 22% of AUSD students are Black/African American and 51% are Hispanic or Latino. Nearly 1 in 5 students — 18.01% — are identified as students with disabilities, compared with a statewide average of 15.05%.
The Board approved preliminary reductions in March 2026, affecting Paraeducators, Behavior Support Specialists, Board Certified Behavior Analysts, Special Education Program Specialists, counselors, Special Education administrators, and other positions supporting students with disabilities.
In the final moments before the May vote to issue final layoff notices, Board members were still asking critical questions about how programs would function and how students would be supported.
Those questions should have been answered before they reached the vote — not days before legally required layoff notices had to be issued.
The behavior team was ultimately spared, and some pink slips were rescinded before Extended School Year, or ESY, a summer program for eligible students with IEPs. But Special Education still took significant losses.
Outside of the formal budget cuts, the MOU that provided two paraeducators in each Special Day Class expired, reducing the number of trained adults supporting some of our most vulnerable students. That added even more weight to teachers’ shoulders, increased concerns about student and staff safety, and put additional strain on the quality of instruction and support students receive — all while administrative positions that help oversee IEPs and Special Education services were also reduced.
Now, as we enter year two of this crisis, we know even more.
In May 2026, the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team — FCMAT — presented its Fiscal Health Risk Analysis of AUSD. FCMAT identified lack of position control and unmonitored Special Education among the district’s fiscal-risk areas.
FCMAT also found concerns with how Special Education staffing needs were being evaluated, including significant differences in caseloads across programs and a lack of consistent review of student support needs during each budget cycle.
At the same time, AUSD’s Third Interim showed that even after approximately $18.27 million in Board-approved reductions, the District continued to project a serious structural deficit.
The pressure for additional cuts is not over.
But we cannot repeat the same process.
A fiscal crisis requires difficult decisions. It does not require blind ones.
And as of August 25, 2026, just three weeks into the school year, positions eliminated through the reductions have not all been restored. That includes the Electronic Technician position, which supports critical fire-life safety systems such as fire alarms and emergency exit equipment. Eliminating that position — and leaving the District without the sole employee responsible for those systems — raises serious concerns for every school site and creates an additional equity concern for students with disabilities, some of whom may require more time, assistance, or specialized support to safely evacuate during an emergency.
Families are already reporting that some students are not receiving all of the services written into their IEPs.
Before another Special Education position or support service is reduced, the Board should know:
What will happen to students?
Who absorbs the work and caseloads?
Can legally required services still be provided — not just on paper, but physically, with enough qualified staff to actually deliver them?
Will staffing levels leave enough capacity to respond to call-outs, emergencies, and substitute needs without disrupting required student services?
Will the cut create contractor, overtime, outside-placement, or compensatory-service costs elsewhere?
What are the real savings once those consequences are counted?
We are asking the Antioch Unified School District Board of Trustees to adopt four protections:
1. Require a public Special Education Impact Analysis before approving additional reductions.
Before eliminating, reducing, consolidating, outsourcing, or intentionally leaving vacant a Special Education or related-service position, publicly disclose:
positions and FTE affected;
schools, programs, and students affected;
current vacancies and caseloads;
student support needs and IEP-service impact;
applicable staffing requirements and standards;
how required services will continue; and
the actual net savings after contractor, substitute, overtime, NPS, outside-placement, or compensatory-service costs are considered.
2. Require Special Education staffing needs to be reviewed during every budget cycle.
Staffing decisions should reflect actual student needs, caseloads, vacancies, statutory requirements, and recognized staffing standards — not only districtwide formulas or reduction targets.
3. Require the Board to see the real financial impact before voting.
If eliminating an employee simply shifts the expense to a contractor, overtime, outside placement, compensatory services, or another department, that cost should be disclosed before the vote.
The Board and public deserve to see:
Gross savings. Replacement costs. Net savings. Where additional conversation is critical.
4. Require public accountability for FCMAT’s findings and recommendations.
The District should regularly report which FCMAT findings have been corrected, which remain unresolved, who is responsible, and what progress has been made — especially in Special Education monitoring, position control, staffing, and budget oversight.
This petition is not asking AUSD to ignore its financial reality.
The fiscal crisis is real.
But fiscal responsibility and educational responsibility must exist together.
AUSD itself says one of its budget-stabilization principles is to “Continue to Support Student Progress,” and Special Education is identified as a District goal.
Those commitments should be reflected in the decisions that follow.
Our students with disabilities do not stop needing support because the District is experiencing a deficit. Their IEPs do not become less important, and their educators and support staff are not just numbers on a spreadsheet.
Altering staffing has real impacts on student services, placements, caseloads, and the stability of students who depend on consistency.
If the first round of major reductions did not solve the structural problem, another round cannot happen without a better process.
No more cuts without the data.
No more reductions without a student impact analysis.
No more discovering the consequences after the vote.
Sign and share this petition asking the Antioch Unified School District Board of Trustees to establish these protections before approving additional Special Education reductions in the 2026-2027 school year and beyond.
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The Issue
Last year, Antioch Unified School District unveiled a budget crisis that resulted in major staffing reductions and disruption across our schools.
Special Education was not spared — it felt a disproportionate impact from the cuts.
Our district serves an incredibly diverse community. According to FCMAT’s May 2026 report, approximately 22% of AUSD students are Black/African American and 51% are Hispanic or Latino. Nearly 1 in 5 students — 18.01% — are identified as students with disabilities, compared with a statewide average of 15.05%.
The Board approved preliminary reductions in March 2026, affecting Paraeducators, Behavior Support Specialists, Board Certified Behavior Analysts, Special Education Program Specialists, counselors, Special Education administrators, and other positions supporting students with disabilities.
In the final moments before the May vote to issue final layoff notices, Board members were still asking critical questions about how programs would function and how students would be supported.
Those questions should have been answered before they reached the vote — not days before legally required layoff notices had to be issued.
The behavior team was ultimately spared, and some pink slips were rescinded before Extended School Year, or ESY, a summer program for eligible students with IEPs. But Special Education still took significant losses.
Outside of the formal budget cuts, the MOU that provided two paraeducators in each Special Day Class expired, reducing the number of trained adults supporting some of our most vulnerable students. That added even more weight to teachers’ shoulders, increased concerns about student and staff safety, and put additional strain on the quality of instruction and support students receive — all while administrative positions that help oversee IEPs and Special Education services were also reduced.
Now, as we enter year two of this crisis, we know even more.
In May 2026, the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team — FCMAT — presented its Fiscal Health Risk Analysis of AUSD. FCMAT identified lack of position control and unmonitored Special Education among the district’s fiscal-risk areas.
FCMAT also found concerns with how Special Education staffing needs were being evaluated, including significant differences in caseloads across programs and a lack of consistent review of student support needs during each budget cycle.
At the same time, AUSD’s Third Interim showed that even after approximately $18.27 million in Board-approved reductions, the District continued to project a serious structural deficit.
The pressure for additional cuts is not over.
But we cannot repeat the same process.
A fiscal crisis requires difficult decisions. It does not require blind ones.
And as of August 25, 2026, just three weeks into the school year, positions eliminated through the reductions have not all been restored. That includes the Electronic Technician position, which supports critical fire-life safety systems such as fire alarms and emergency exit equipment. Eliminating that position — and leaving the District without the sole employee responsible for those systems — raises serious concerns for every school site and creates an additional equity concern for students with disabilities, some of whom may require more time, assistance, or specialized support to safely evacuate during an emergency.
Families are already reporting that some students are not receiving all of the services written into their IEPs.
Before another Special Education position or support service is reduced, the Board should know:
What will happen to students?
Who absorbs the work and caseloads?
Can legally required services still be provided — not just on paper, but physically, with enough qualified staff to actually deliver them?
Will staffing levels leave enough capacity to respond to call-outs, emergencies, and substitute needs without disrupting required student services?
Will the cut create contractor, overtime, outside-placement, or compensatory-service costs elsewhere?
What are the real savings once those consequences are counted?
We are asking the Antioch Unified School District Board of Trustees to adopt four protections:
1. Require a public Special Education Impact Analysis before approving additional reductions.
Before eliminating, reducing, consolidating, outsourcing, or intentionally leaving vacant a Special Education or related-service position, publicly disclose:
positions and FTE affected;
schools, programs, and students affected;
current vacancies and caseloads;
student support needs and IEP-service impact;
applicable staffing requirements and standards;
how required services will continue; and
the actual net savings after contractor, substitute, overtime, NPS, outside-placement, or compensatory-service costs are considered.
2. Require Special Education staffing needs to be reviewed during every budget cycle.
Staffing decisions should reflect actual student needs, caseloads, vacancies, statutory requirements, and recognized staffing standards — not only districtwide formulas or reduction targets.
3. Require the Board to see the real financial impact before voting.
If eliminating an employee simply shifts the expense to a contractor, overtime, outside placement, compensatory services, or another department, that cost should be disclosed before the vote.
The Board and public deserve to see:
Gross savings. Replacement costs. Net savings. Where additional conversation is critical.
4. Require public accountability for FCMAT’s findings and recommendations.
The District should regularly report which FCMAT findings have been corrected, which remain unresolved, who is responsible, and what progress has been made — especially in Special Education monitoring, position control, staffing, and budget oversight.
This petition is not asking AUSD to ignore its financial reality.
The fiscal crisis is real.
But fiscal responsibility and educational responsibility must exist together.
AUSD itself says one of its budget-stabilization principles is to “Continue to Support Student Progress,” and Special Education is identified as a District goal.
Those commitments should be reflected in the decisions that follow.
Our students with disabilities do not stop needing support because the District is experiencing a deficit. Their IEPs do not become less important, and their educators and support staff are not just numbers on a spreadsheet.
Altering staffing has real impacts on student services, placements, caseloads, and the stability of students who depend on consistency.
If the first round of major reductions did not solve the structural problem, another round cannot happen without a better process.
No more cuts without the data.
No more reductions without a student impact analysis.
No more discovering the consequences after the vote.
Sign and share this petition asking the Antioch Unified School District Board of Trustees to establish these protections before approving additional Special Education reductions in the 2026-2027 school year and beyond.
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Petition created on August 25, 2026