Novato district plans panel on school closure

Novato Unified School District residents who want to help determine which schools need to be closed because of declining enrollment are invited to apply for a seat on a new advisory committee.

“NUSD has seen declining enrollment for the past several years,” Superintendent Kris Cosca said. “While enrollment increased last year, we have seen a significant decrease this year.”

After viewing the declining enrollment numbers, the district’s board of trustees asked Cosca on Dec. 15 to form a committee to explore the issue. The group will include seven to 11 members.

“This committee will focus on facilities use related to several goals, primarily around short-term and long-term fiscal responsibility,” Cosca said. “Our long-term financial stability is essential so that we are capable of delivering on our educational promise to NUSD students.”

The deadline to apply for the committee is 4:30 p.m. Jan. 7, said district spokesperson Leslie Benjamin. Application forms and other details are available online at nusd. org/711.

Benjamin said the trustees will announce the committee members at their meeting on Jan. 26. The first committee meeting will be Feb. 3.

The group is expected to meet from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. via Zoom — or in person when possible at the district board room — on a bimonthly basis for the next few months. The committee will finish its work and submit a report and recommendations by May 26, Benjamin said.

The final report is expected to include a “priority list of use of surplus space and real property that will be acceptable to the community,” Benjamin said. The committee will also “make a final determination of limits of tolerance of use of space and real property,” she said.

The committee, which will have a professional facilitator, will not address a renewal on the parcel tax that expires in June 2023. The district’s previous Measure A parcel tax renewal and increase proposal failed to win the required two-thirds approval of voters on the March 3 ballot.

The measure had asked for a renewal of the $251 per parcel tax plus an increase of $125. The measure won 55.39% yes votes and 44.61% no votes.

“It is not within this committee’s scope to discuss issues beyond facilities, like the parcel tax,” Cosca said. “That issue will need to be tackled in the next two years, as our current parcel tax continues to decrease while our costs increase.”