On December 11, the Santa Barbara Unified School Board will vote on a “Housekeeping” power grab that would quietly strip its highly qualified community representative Finance Committee chair of their elected position and give it to a board trustee.
Resolution 2024‑25‑32A would require that the chair be chosen only from the two board representatives on the committee. Community members, educators, classified staff, and site leaders would no longer be allowed to serve as chair, no matter how qualified or trusted they are. The current chair is a community‑based finance expert and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), elected by the committee.
This is not how the Finance Committee was sold to the public.
In June 2025, the School Board created the committee to “effectively and transparently manage our financial and human resources to support our educational goals” and to help advance student outcome goals in academics, behavior, social‑emotional wellness, and school climate. The committee was charged with reviewing the district’s financial and operational performance, supporting budget oversight, and regularly reporting to the board “to maximize educational opportunities for all students while maintaining the community’s trust.”
To meet that purpose, the board designed a broad membership: two board members, union representatives, site leaders, and two community members with finance backgrounds, meeting monthly in public. Members elect their own chair from any voting member.
If this committee truly exists to build trust and transparency around rapidly growing financial problems, removing its elected community chair, a seasoned finance executive and CFA, does the opposite. SBUSD should keep the principle that any voting member can be elected chair. Public dollars deserve more independent community oversight, not less.
