After the Acalanes Union High School District (AUHSD) initiative Measure T failed to pass during the 2024-2025 school year, Campo faculty have stated that a 1 million dollar deficit within the school will have a notable impact on the student experience in the upcoming 2026-2027 academic year.
Measure T was a bond measure proposed by the district that would have been used to backfill a slash of budget cuts issued by the state last year. The bond measure would have put an extra charge of $130 on property owners’ taxes, yet provided the district with the funds to “continue advanced academic programs including math, science, engineering, and the arts, attract and retain highly qualified teachers, and prepare students for college and in-demand careers” as cited by the AUHSD website.
With the bond narrowly failing to pass, Principal Pete Alvarez says that the impacts are stark. “The failure of the parcel tax will impact the elective offerings available to all students, eliminate librarians, and reduce academic counselors.”
Campolindo Librarian Jennifer Frugaletti explained how students might see these reductions next year. “I think the thing they’re going to notice most is the library closure,” Frugaletti said. “…Now there’s only one librarian for all four schools, which means that the library cannot be open to students the way it was in the past… there will be a limited number of students allowed in at limited times.”
According to Frugaletti, big budget reductions will lead to bigger class sizes, fewer full-time counselors, and a lack of autonomy to change students schedules once the new year begins due to fuller classes. For students who may still be feeling concerned about their schedule, Frugaletti said, “if you have anything you’re concerned about now would be the time to go talk to a counselor and see if it’s too late to make the switch now before school starts. You just have to know that your schedule is 99.9% locked in. You have to make peace with that and do the best that you can.”
Junior Madeline Sheng-Williams shared her thoughts. “As someone who had to change my schedule this year and a library TA, I think there are so many valuable resources the the school has that I really love… changing my schedule was really critical for my future, college, career, etc. so without that ability equally available it’s sad to see these things we’ve gotten to enjoy be taken away unexpectedly.”
With elementary school districts currently hoping to pass the parcel tax, Measure H, the AUHSD is waiting to see how that goes before lobbying for a new tax in November. “Get out there and vote. Make sure that people know how important it is,” Frugaletti said. “I think everyone always thinks ‘We’re living in a nice neighborhood, everything’s going great. We’ve always had such a good school. We still have a good school.’ It’s just that people are going to notice a decline if we cannot fund things.”
