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The Pasadena Unified School District found itself in a number of headlines over the last year — from its budget crisis, to debates over school closures, to cutting down dozens of trees for soil remediation after the 2025 Eaton Fire. Recall efforts are underway for two board seats that are not up for election this year.
What’s at stake in this race
Three districts are up for election this year: 1, 3 and 7. Since District 5 Board Member Patrice Marshall McKenzie is running unopposed, she will not be on the ballot and will instead be appointed to the seat.
Those who make it onto the board will face a variety of issues:
- Budget: The board last year voted, 4-3, to cut $24.5 million out of its budget for the current school year, leading to layoffs of dozens of staffers and teachers. An official from the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which oversees the fiscal health of the county’s school districts, said the district was projected to have $149.4 million of deficit spending between 2025 and 2028.
- School closures: Because of its budget woes, the board began discussing the possibility of school consolidations and closures. The process got put on hold after public outcry and a local investigation raised questions about transparency in the process. The board voted, 4-3, in June on a resolution to start a “District Transformation Process” to replace the previous effort.
- Soil remediation and trees: The district is also still reeling from the Eaton Fire that displaced hundreds of families and burned or damaged its school buildings. Elevated levels of lead were found at more than 10 PUSD campuses. In the spring, the district determined that cutting down nearly 200 trees from campuses was the “safest and most appropriate course of action” to remediate the soil and reopen schools as quickly as possible, prompting outcry from students, residents and environmental advocates. When asked, most candidates told LAist they generally agreed with that decision.
What does the Board of Education do?
The seven-member Board of Education controls the purse strings for a district that serves about 14,000 students. It can:
- Hire and fire a superintendent.
- Set district-wide policies.
- Approve textbooks and curriculum.
- Vote to approve school consolidations or closures in a district.
Board members each serve four-year terms. The positions are part-time and offer a stipend of $4,800 a year.
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The candidates in District 1
Kimberly Kenne
Incumbent
Kimberly Kenne has served on the Board of Education since 2011 and has served as the board president twice. Kenne has been a resident of Altadena for 32 years, and her children attended PUSD schools. Her professional background is in information technology for the banking sector.
Her top priority: “My top priority is that our spending is aligned with our values. I feel that if our budget documents were more easily understood by the public, there would be a better understanding of where our money goes and the ability to see whether it is in alignment with our goals. Accountability for me would be to ensure that we are making progress on our goals and that if we are not, that changes are made to services and funding to address that situation.”
On the budget: Kenne was one of four board members who voted for a plan that cut $24.5 million from this year’s school budget: “The district knew that we needed to cut a significant amount from our budget for [20]26-27. … For now the district’s budget has stabilized, but we have not given raises for two years and enrollment has continued to decline. The district must continue looking at ways to live within our means while providing students with all the programs and services they need to succeed.”
On the school consolidation process: Kenne was one of four members to vote on starting a District Transformation Process that could lead to school consolidations.
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“As the district continues to have declining enrollment, we have had to make very painful budget reductions. Some of them may not be sustainable. In addition, we are planning on spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer bond funds on modernizing our schools. Now is the time to evaluate how we move forward so that we are maximizing our spending on services and supports for students. This may mean having fewer schools open. We need to dig into that data and look at all our options so that we can make the best decisions moving forward.”
On building trust with the community:
“I think trust has to be earned by the district and the board. One way to do this is transparency — we need to be open about our decisions and the process that leads to those decisions. Another factor is showing that decisions are based on what is the best solution for students. Our communication with the public can be improved.”
More voter resources:
Felita Kealing
Student recruiter
Felita Kealing works in marketing and student recruitment at Thurgood Marshall Secondary School and has been a parent of PUSD students. She grew up in northwest Pasadena and Altadena and attended Hamilton Elementary and Blair High. She serves on the leadership advisory committee of the Pasadena Educational Foundation, which supports the district’s schools.
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Her top priority: Kealing says her top priority if elected will be student achievement.
“I am committing to ensuring that PUSD delivers comprehensive resource allocation, differentiated support services and academically rigorous pathways tailored to meet the needs of every learner. I plan to push for transparent accountability systems, utilizing performance metrics to assess student advancement and confirm that our schools uphold their commitment to authentic educational equity.”
On the budget: Kealing said she would have voted against last year’s plan to cut the budget by $24.5 million. “This is due to the deep cuts to staffing and student services. To explain how to make the district financially stable is a complex question that requires deeper analysis than this questionnaire allows. This topic involves extensive data and information that must be thoroughly reviewed, researched and studied before a definitive answer can be provided.”
On the school consolidation process:: Kealing said she would have voted against the District Transformation Process: “Historically, PUSD has proven that mass closures fail to fix our structural issues. An example is when closing campuses, it may reduce localized per-pupil expenditures, and it simultaneously slashes per-pupil revenues. This happens because when closing schools it drives more families out of the district entirely. In California, a district loses an average of 287 students over the five years following a closure regime, erasing about $2.4 million annually in state attendance funding while personnel expenses, the largest line item in the budget, remain flat.”
On building trust: “Building trust through parent and community engagement and connection is the cornerstone of my approach. My policy goals are grounded in collaboration, equity and transparency, ensuring families are meaningfully engaged, not simply ‘informed’ before major decisions on school transitions, budgets or policies are finalized. As a board member, I will strengthen proactive community listening, transparent communication and two-way feedback. I am committed to making sure historically underrepresented voices are heard and barriers to participation are dismantled.”
More voter resources:
The candidates in District 3
Michelle Richardson Bailey
Incumbent
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Michelle Richardson Bailey was elected to the board in 2017. According to her website, she is a native of Pasadena and attended PUSD schools. Her three children also attended the district’s schools, and she has grandchildren currently enrolled. She serves on the Board of Governors for the California Association of Black School Educators.
In the last year, she was among three board members who cast dissenting votes on budget cuts and the District Transformation Process.
In her own words:
Bailey did not complete LAist’s candidate survey before the publication deadline.
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Veronica Elias
Educator/parent
Veronica Elias is a PUSD parent and served as principal of an L.A. charter school. She spent 14 years as a teacher and has worked in administration for over 10 years. She says the greatest influence on her public education experience has been navigating school as the child of immigrant parents.
Her top priority: Elias says her top priority is “stabilizing the district’s budget while protecting classroom instruction. … [I would] call for an independent audit of the district office to determine how resources are being used, where responsibilities overlap, and whether administrative positions are producing measurable value before additional cuts reach school sites. The district must develop a transparent, multiyear plan that addresses declining enrollment, attendance, staffing and long-term financial stability.”
“Accountability means assigning responsibility for each action, establishing clear timelines and measurable targets, and reporting progress publicly and regularly.”
Students with disabilities: Elias says the district is not meeting the needs of students with disabilities. “Extensive budget reductions have left many schools operating with limited staffing, while special education teachers, service providers, case managers and administrators carry increasingly demanding workloads. This creates a serious risk that assessments are delayed, services become inconsistent and important needs fall through the cracks.”
On budget cuts: Elias said she would have voted against the $24.5 million package of budget cuts last year. “Too much of the burden fell on teachers, school staff and student programs. However, a no vote alone is not a financial plan. I would have required an alternative that achieved the needed savings while better protecting classrooms. ”
On the school consolidation process: Elias said she would have voted yes on the District Transformation Process.
“Resolution 2894 did not authorize school closures; it initiated a process to review enrollment, school capacity, staffing and community priorities. PUSD cannot ignore declining enrollment and continuing deficits, but the process must not begin with a predetermined outcome. Before considering any closure or consolidation, I would require an independent audit of district-office functions, a full analysis of fiscal savings and academic, equity, transportation and neighborhood impacts, and meaningful input from students, families and employees. The board should publicly compare all alternatives and explain how any final decision protects student learning and strengthens the district long term.”
On trees: “Removal should be a site-by-site decision, not a blanket approach driven primarily by speed. The district should publicly provide the testing, alternatives considered and specific reason each tree must be removed, while obtaining arborist review and preserving mature or protected trees whenever safely possible.
On building trust: “Trust is built through transparency, consistency, and follow-through. I would engage families, students, and employees before major decisions are made, not after a proposal is nearly final and clearly explain what community input changed. I would require the district to publish the data, alternatives, costs and expected student impact behind major recommendations in accessible language.”
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The candidates in District 7
Dennis J. McNamara
Retired finance executive
Dennis McNamara serves as the chair of the district’s bond oversight committee and a volunteer in the district. He retired after working for nearly 40 years in investment management. He is a volunteer math tutor for second graders at Washington Elementary. His kids went to public schools.
His top priority: “Raising academic achievement in core academic subjects, especially English … and math. One way to address this is to ensure academic progress is on the agenda for every regular board meeting, and early in the meeting. We will examine what is working, what is not working and understand where the gaps are. Transparency is setting hard targets and then measuring and reporting progress. Accountability will be a positive or negative evaluation of the superintendent based on actual results.”
On budget cuts: “I would have voted for cuts, as without them, LACOE [the L.A. County Office of Education] was poised to take over the district. But, the cuts hit classroom and school services too hard. Hollowing out the classroom is exactly the wrong approach. I would have asked for more cuts from District HQ, and even a 5% cut for the district senior leadership team as a show of leadership.”
On the school consolidation process: McNamara said he would have voted for the District Transformation Process.
“That said, the original process was deeply flawed and was an accounting exercise, not one based on an educational vision. We should start with the curriculum, services and facilities we need to deliver a first-class education for the students we have and are projected to have, not what we once had. Figure out a physical footprint to deliver that vision. Ensure schools are full, with enriched and deep offerings, with well-tended grounds. Avoid half empty schools with bare bones staffing. Look at the cost to modernize each school versus its alternative value if deemed surplus.”
On the removal of trees: McNamara said the district should have taken a different approach. “The district should have socialized the issue more widely, and aggressively with the community and with senior city leadership. They could have done 90% of the remediation work, then cordoned off areas around trees to handle that separately. Especially disappointing given the explicit district goal to build up tree canopies.”
On building trust: “I intend to hold regular town hall meetings, with a second trustee joining the discussion. … I would like to utilize a roundtable format with board members with various stakeholders (PTSA, principals and teachers) as part of the mix.”
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Cynthia Torres
Education services consultant
Cynthia Torres is a certified educational planner, advising students and families on college admissions. She’s also worked in finance at PUSD and at Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, where she chaired the Financial Oversight Committee and has worked in the financial services industry. She graduated from Eagle Rock High School.
Her top priority: Developing a financial sustainability plan. “The school district has become bitterly divided by conversations concerning whether school consolidations should proceed, with a faction of the school board contending that school consolidations are necessary and a separate faction contending that they are not. I would like to propose a middle path which would be framed by three considerations: budget realities, community concerns and revenue strategies.
On budget cuts: Torres didn’t say which way she would have voted on budget cuts last year but had experience with strained budgets at Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. She said no schools were closed during the 11 years she served on the Financial Oversight Committee, and the board worked to “surgically trim staffing” by adjusting class sizes and counselor/staff caseloads. The board, she said, also instituted furlough days for the workforce when “budget cuts were imperative.”
On the school consolidation process. “I am persuaded by a 2026 Stanford Graduate School of Education study that concludes that closing schools may not actually improve a school district’s financial standing. … What is needed now in PUSD is wise judgment, an interest in pragmatic problem-solving and sound leadership, working together with the community, with parents and with civic leaders, to chart a course together.”
On rebuilding trust: “PUSD must do a far better job communicating in plain language with the public, seeking input into decisions, reporting on results that reflect how feedback influenced the final decision, and publishing how public funds were spent and the direct outcomes that were achieved.”
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