A special school board meeting, held March 24 at the district office in Quincy, included a proposed deadline extension for the 2023-2024 audit, due December 15, 2024. The Plumas Unified School District board also reviewed the second interim financial report for the 2024-2025 school year, which projects a growing deficit. The surprise action was the resignation of Leslie Edlund, District 5 trustee.
Commenters focus on finances
The meeting agenda opened with public comments, including several from classified district staff. Emily Pruitt, a Portola school nurse, spoke out against a proposed deadline extension for the already overdue 2023-2024 audit. PUSD employees are held to deadlines, she said. The district office employees should be held to the same professional standards.
Stewart Clark, a special education teacher at Quincy Junior-Senior High School, addressed the ongoing budget deficit. “There are two things we need,” Clark said: accurate data on why this happened and accountability for it. “You have to tell the truth,” he told the board.
District 5 trustee resigns effective April 2
Edlund surprised the audience when she used the public comment period to announce that she submitted her resignation to the governing board last week and that her last day is Wednesday, April 2. “I gave a lot of heart and soul to this district,” she said. “Right now, I need to prioritize my health and reconnect to a life that provides me peace.”
In an emotional statement to the teachers and staff at the meeting, Edlund added, “Throughout the years, I have seen so many kids grow, blossom, thrive and go out into the world because of you. And [I know] that you all will continue to provide the first-rate education that you have provided throughout the years that I have been on the board. I urge you to listen first, seek to understand, act with kindness, compassion and trust. Thank you for all you do.”
Edlund has served two terms on the board as District 5 trustee. This, her third term, ends in December 2026. The board will appoint a new trustee to fill her seat for the remainder of that time. To qualify for appointment, interested parties must be at least 18 years of age and reside within the district, which includes East Quincy south of State Route 70, Cromberg, Graeagle Clio, Gold Mountain and Whitehawk. Candidates must complete an application, and interview before the board at a special public session. The deadline to apply is April 30 at 12 p.m.
Board approves deadline extension for 2023-2024 audit to May 24
First on the agenda was a 60-day extension request on the 2023-2024 audit, which was due in December 2024. Interim Plumas Unified School District Superintendent Jim Frost presented the overdue audit issue.
Mike Fine, the chief executive officer of the state Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team, approved the audit extension, Frost said. So did Robert Shemwell, the California State Department of Education official appointed as fiscal advisor to PUSD, said Frost. He added that an interim chief business official, selected by the state fiscal team, was expected to arrive March 25. That official’s task is to “expedite and get things back on track,” Frost said.
Board member Joleen Cline read aloud an email from Fine stating that the audit would take an additional 60 days to complete and would be on time. The email went on to say that while Fine does not excuse the late audit, it’s preferable to starting a new audit from scratch, which could take another year.
The board approved the 2034-2024 audit extension 5-0.
New financial report projects $ 5.7 million shortfall
The school board provides interim fiscal reports twice a year, in December and March, to show the fiscal health of the county office of education and the school district for the current year. They include projections for the next two years. In June 2024, the district budget showed a positive balance. What alerted the public to PUSD’s budget shortfall was the first interim report for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, presented by then Chief Business Officer Mallory Marin at the December 11, 2024 meeting. According to Frost, who presented the new report March 24, little has changed since then. He reported some savings from recent cuts, but said that the same underlying fiscal issue and projected decreased revenues still persist. The latest estimate puts the district $5.7 million in the red by the end of the current fiscal year, with an additional shortfall of over $2 million in each of the next two years.
The district started the year with a $5 million reserve fund, Frost said. But that eroded fast as the district borrowed against reserves for day-to-day operations.
“There was ongoing deficit spending,” said Frost. On Sept. 11, 2024, the same day they placed former Superintendent William Roderick on paid administrative leave, the board passed a resolution allowing superintendents or their “designee” to make fund transfers without board approval. This has been the board’s practice since at least 1995, Patty McCutcheon, secretary to the PUSD superintendent, told The Plumas Sun.
“We need to rescind that board resolution,” said Frost. “It looked like a shell game.” Legally, all that money needs to be paid back, he added.
In another blow to the school district, Congress has not renewed funding through the Secure Rural Schools and Community Accountability Act. In 2024, SRS brought $3.4 million to Plumas County, of which $1.7 million went to the school district. This year, Frost said, PCOE expected to receive about $1.4 million, with PUSD receiving $1 million. That would represent a major increase over the four previous years, which averaged $3.2 million for the entire county and $1.6 million to schools.
“There is no way we can avoid getting a state loan,” said Frost. Because PUSD is a “basic aid” district, it relies almost exclusively on local property tax revenue to cover all expenses.
Importantly, recent cuts, including the 22 layoffs approved March 12, are not reflected in this financial update. A third interim report is expected in May. If state officials approve a district loan, further cuts will be required to service the loan and balance the budget, Frost said.
Cindy Crim, appointed March 12 to represent District 2, reiterated one of the questions the public has asked most often: Why weren’t these issues noticed before? Frost reiterated that the last superintendent, Roderick, “had a shell game going on with borrowing and transferring funds.” Roderick joined the district in July 2022. He resigned following the board’s action placing him on paid administrative leave in 2024.
Crim also asked whether the district’s staff housing, purchased for $749,000 in July 2022, could be sold for revenue. Frost said that could be an option.
An interim chief business official joins PCOE
PCOE has appointed Stephanie Shatto as new interim chief business official. District officials cited confidentiality in declining to comment on the status of Marin, who served as chief business officer until recently. Marin appeared at the March 5 school board meeting, where she presented yet another overdue audit, this one for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. She did not attend the March 24 meeting.
Shatto brings over a decade of experience in education finance to her role, Andrea White told The Plumas Sun in an email. Her professional journey includes key roles in budget management, financial planning, and fiscal oversight within K-12 and higher educational institutions. She holds a Masters in Business Administration, is a graduate of the University of Southern California School’s Business Management Certificate Program, and is certified by the FCMAT in fiscal crisis management
What’s next?
The next regular meeting of the PCOE-PUSD regular joint governing board meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. April 9, at the C. Roy Carmichael Elementary School cafeteria in Portola. The meeting is expected to include Fine, the state official, in a presentation of the state’s latest financial report from the state.
