by John Glidden | glid24@protonmail.com | March 1, 2025
VALLEJO – The Vallejo school district’s push to erase a multi-million budget deficit continues Wednesday when the board of trustees will be asked to approve the hiring of Ruben Fernandez, as the new assistant superintendent of business services and operations.
In early January, the school board approved the job description of the new position which consolidates two top executive administrator positions, chief business official and assistant superintendent of operations, in Superintendent Rubén Aurelio’s executive cabinet.
The consolidation is one of many areas the district is looking at as a way to erase a looming $20.3 million budget deficit.
Fernandez’s hiring comes weeks after the school board voted to close Mare Island Health and Fitness Academy, Loma Vista Environmental Science Academy, and move Vallejo Charter School onto the Mare Island campus. The board also eliminated 75 district staff positions, as reported by the Vallejo Sun.
Per the employment agreement, Fernandez will receive an annual base salary of $236,288, and start with the district on April 7 for an initial term to end on June 30, 2027.
The district has been without its chief business official for nearly two months as records show Rosa Loza resigned from the position on January 10, two days after the school board approved the new position. The district expects to save at least $250,000 under the reorganization.
It’s not immediately known if Mitch Romao, the current assistant superintendent of operations, will be leaving the district or taking another position.
A declining student enrollment, and exhaustion of COVID-19 era funding are being cited as major reasons for the district’s precarious financial position.
The district currently has over 8,800 students enrolled for the current school year, which is down from the 13,600 enrollment numbers just a decade ago. District officials anticipate the decline to continue with student enrollment dropping to 8,200 by the 2028-2029 school year.
At the same meeting in which the board made its decision to close schools, Superintendent Rubén Aurelio addressed the district’s daily student attendance numbers which hover above 90 percent. Known as Average Daily Attendance (ADA), the count is used to calculate how much funding each district receives from the state.
He noted that if the daily attendance increased by just one percent, there would be a positive impact to the district’s budget.
“When we increase by one percent, that generates an additional $400,000 all the way up, possibly, to a million dollars, depending on how those numbers break,” he told the board. “One percent of attendance matters for us in this district, so we encourage our families to obviously send their children to school.”
The Vallejo school board is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m., March 5 at 6 p.m. inside the Vallejo City Unified School District Offices, at 665 Walnut Avenue on Mare Island. To access the district’s YouTube channel for the live stream, please click this link
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