The Vallejo City Unified School District Board of Trustees voted — again — to close three elementary schools following accusations of Brown Act violations surrounding their original vote to close the schools last December.

On Wednesday, the school board voted unanimously to close Lincoln, Highland and Pennycook elementary schools at the end of the 2025-26 school year. The district is facing a projected structural deficit of $32 million over the next two years, VCUSD officials said.

The school closures, which the district has dubbed “our roadmap to resizing,” began with the announced shuttering of two academies last year, the Mare Island Health and Fitness Academy and the Loma Vista Environmental Science Academy.

As with all of the district’s school closures, students will be absorbed into other campuses.

Wednesday’s re-vote was called after the board received a letter from the California School Employees Association union suggesting the body may have violated the state’s open meeting law under the Brown Act in December, the time of the original vote to close the elementary schools.

The union, which represents school employees who are not credentialed teachers, also known as classified staff, was concerned that board members may have had discussions about the school closures outside of any public meetings.

“Our North Star remains the same: how we best serve our students. … By revisiting this vote in public, we are providing clarity and reaffirming a decision that allows our school communities to move forward.”
Superintendent Ruben Aurelio

The district said the re-vote was an attempt to “cure and correct” the union’s concerns, without admitting that any violations may have occurred.

“We must be transparent, follow the law, and act in our students’ best interests,” VCUSD Superintendent Ruben Aurelio said in a news release from his office. “Our North Star remains the same: how we best serve our students. The recent uncertainty has been difficult for families and staff, and by revisiting this vote in public, we are providing clarity and reaffirming a decision that allows our school communities to move forward.”

Vallejo’s reasons for downsizing align with many other cities in the state whose school districts are cutting back, closing schools and firing teachers: declining enrollment, rising costs and aftershocks from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In February, the Vallejo board voted to give pink slips to about 130 classified staffers and about 80 full-time regular and special education teachers, with over 54 positions coming from the elementary school level.

Layoffs in Vallejo schools aren’t going unchallenged. CSEA recently hit the beleaguered district in March with three unfair labor practices complaints filed regarding the classified staff downsizing. The complaints allege the district communicated with employees without going through the union and refused to bargain in good faith, among others.