Budget Issues to Test Pleasanton's Superintendent Pick

This is Part II in a series about the incoming superintendent, Parvin Ahmadi.

With Pleasanton schools facing a budget deficit and possibly headed back to the voters with a parcel tax, incoming Superintendent Parvin Ahmadi's financial expertise will be tested immediately.

During the superintendent search, budget issues weighed heavily. Still the school board, which will vote tonight on a final contract for Ahmadi, chose someone whose experience leans toward curriculum and instruction.

Members of the 13-member community panel that interviewed superintendent candidates said Ahmadi, currently Fremont's assistant superintendent for instruction, will make a solid team with Pleasanton's assistant superintendent for business services, Luz Cazares.

"The two of them together really understand what's going to be necessary for us going forward," said Joan Laursen, president of the Pleasanton PTA Council and a candidate for a seat in the school board.

Ahmadi will have a strong finance department in the district to support her, according to Jim Ott, school board member.

"One of the reasons why [Ahmadi] is a good choice of us is that we do have a strong finance person in Luz Cazares," Ott said. "We might have selected someone different if we didn't have that. … A lot of us think she's a good complement with [Cazares]."

Colleagues in Fremont and people who talked with Ahmadi during the hiring process spoke of her grasp of school finance.

Valerie Arkin, Pleasanton school board member, said Ahmadi has had to deal with the same budget dilemma in Fremont that her new district faces.

"We're convinced that she's going to be able to move us forward the best we can in light of the budget," Arkin said.

Ahmadi, who became became Fremont's director of elementary education in 2005 and assistant superintendent of instruction in 2008, said in her most recent roles there, she's had to work closely with the schools superintendent on finance issues.

"Every one of those decisions that we made about instruction had to also be considered in light of our budget and our financial difficulties," she said.

Additionally, Ahmadi had to manage federal and state grants. And with her experience at the bargaining table with Fremont unions, Ahmadi said she understands that hard choices must be made.

"We can have a lot of great ideas, but if we can't financially support them, it becomes a problem," she said. "We have to be able to survive these difficult financial times."

Fremont has double the number of Pleasanton's students. Both districts, along with public school systems throughout California, continue to grapple with dwindling funds.

In February, Fremont faced a $27 million dollar shortfall. Meanwhile, Pleasanton made about $13 million in cuts in a span of two years.

Members of the committee that interviewed Ahmadi point to her experience in grant writing and building partnerships with higher educational institutions, non-profits and businesses as potential new ways to bring in additional funds.

Ahmadi helped develop a master's program for aspiring principals at Cal State-East Bay. She helped obtain grants and forged partnerships with corporations such as Intel and Lam Engineering Inc.

Serving as the district representative on the Fremont Education Foundation's board of directors, Ahmadi also was a key player in raising money for grants that the organization awards teachers.

Both districts are pursuing parcel taxes as a future revenue source. Among the criteria set for a superintendent in the search process was the ability to "seek out new revenue sources such as a parcel tax, general obligation bond and grants."

In Pleasanton, a parcel tax measure failed to garner the two-thirds votes it needed to pass in 2009, winning 62 percent support.

Trevor Knaggs, president of the Pleasanton Teachers Association, said that failure reflected some  unhappiness with the school district and a demand for more transparency from its officials.

Many in Pleasanton say a superintendent who has the ability to build consensus will be key in the coming years.

Knaggs, who was among those who talked with Ahmadi colleagues in Fremont, said in a room of management team members and representatives of labor associations, no one had a negative thing to say about her.

"That made a big impression on me," he said. "She forges links with people. The comment we heard over and over again is, Pleasanton's gain is Fremont's loss."

Nika Megino contributed to this report.