Why this matters
South Bay Union's school closures are hitting a district in which about a fourth of students receive special education services, and nearly three-fourths are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged.
He knew he was facing a numbers problem when he took the job. But the bigger obstacle has been getting people to agree on what to do about it.
South Bay Union Superintendent Jose Espinoza inherited a decade-long enrollment decline and troubling finances when he joined the Imperial Beach-area district in late 2021. This year, he led it through some of the most unpopular decisions school leaders can make: close campuses and lay off staff.
But Espinoza says those cuts are in service of one important goal for district families: avoid a state takeover.
“Unfortunately, not everybody understands that piece,” Espinoza told inewsource.
At one point, South Bay Union had as many as 8,000 students. Today, it serves about half that amount — the largest decline among all of the county’s districts over the past decade. As a result, officials closed the nearly 75-year-old Central Elementary earlier this year and board members have voted to shut down as many as two more campuses in the coming years.
This is the first year of his tenure that Espinoza has laid off staff — about seven people. Some were rehired by the district or left through natural attrition such as retirement, he said.
Espinoza considers the district’s consolidation a success so far, pointing to an advisory committee of staff and community members that met over a two-year period to develop a recommendation for district leaders. South Bay Union also reached a deal earlier this year with its teachers union, resolving a nearly two-year contract negotiation process and avoiding a strike.
The superintendent has also touted a vision beyond campus closures, aiming to attract families and teachers by improving standards-based instruction and potentially revamping the district’s specialized programs. He’s also weighing the possibility of turning vacant district property into workforce housing for its staff, similar to a San Diego Unified program.
It would provide a benefit for staff and the district with additional revenue, he said.
But community members haven’t exactly given Espinoza a standing ovation. And some have said they believe school leaders had already made their decisions before seeking input from the community.
Plans to shut down schools — and particularly which ones — prompted contentious meetings and concerns over how the closures will impact students, especially those with special needs or considered low-income. About a fourth of South Bay Union students received special education services last year. Nearly three-fourths of the district’s kids are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged, state data shows.
Espinoza, who was born in Michoacán, Mexico, said he and his family first settled in Vista when they moved to the U.S. His parents picked avocados.
He is one of seven children — four boys and three girls. The family later moved to the Central Valley to continue working in agriculture.
Espinoza said his first job was picking grapes, but he knew it wasn’t what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He grew up wanting to be a teacher. He hadn’t imagined becoming a school superintendent — as a kid, he didn’t know what that was.
A UC Berkeley graduate, Espinoza said his desire to help students and families only strengthened as he became more familiar with the public school system. He was about a decade into his education career and living in the Bay Area when he took the South Bay Union job.
“I applied to be the superintendent specifically because of who they serve,” Espinoza said. “I may be an outsider from this community, but I came from a community that’s very similar to this one, with the same challenges.”
Trustee Jannet Medina said layoffs and school closures were already being discussed behind closed doors during the pandemic — before Espinoza arrived.
“We already had names,” she said, referring to a reduction plan that was drafted by the prior superintendent and included the names of four schools and which positions to eliminate. That plan was handed off during the leadership change, but board members decided against cuts and closing schools at the time. COVID-19 relief funds also helped delay the decision.
Board members say they, too, have felt the tension — and experienced the pushback. Medina said someone handed out flyers with misinformation and her photo in her residential complex. Her daughter has told her she feels treated differently at school because her mom is a board member, and she has asked her if she really wants to keep doing it.
Medina said she’s on the board because the public school system failed her when she was a student, something she doesn’t want to happen to her children and her community. Her struggles with learning English and passing the state’s language proficiency test nearly prevented her from graduating high school, she said.
But the district’s culture makes her job harder, she said. She believes staff doesn’t want to understand the actual situation so that the district can work together and move forward in the best interest of students.
“When people are going different directions and giving out misinformation to the public, it makes it really difficult to concentrate on what is the reality that we have to focus on,” Medina said.
Manuel Esparza’s first day on the board came as a shock when dozens of frustrated community members filled the auditorium during a meeting. Most were there to show support for teachers in the midst of tense contract negotiations who had threatened to go on strike.
Originally appointed and later elected in 2024, Esparza is now the board president and is running unopposed for another term this November.
He said he was taken aback by the number of students at the district who were not reading at grade level when he became board member. Now, test scores in English and math have improved and more English learners are being reclassified — signals that the district is heading in the right direction, he said.
Esparza said he wants to accommodate teachers because of their vital role in students’ education. But it’s a difficult position, he said.
“We’re there to listen,” Esparza said of the tense board meetings. “But it gets to the point where you’re like, OK, what really is going on?
“Because we have lives, we have work, and here we are sitting there, and very unhappy people walk out to make public comments. And I get it, but I wasn’t ready for that.”
Some parents and teachers have urged the district to invest in programs they believe could draw and retain families, including visual and performing arts and dual language. They have also expressed frustration over the district’s decision to delay any new specialized programs, saying they could help attract and retain young families.
“I think what has been the concern of staff and the community is that there are other options that we can be taking that we are not exploring,” said Vanessa Barrera, president of the teachers union.
Barrera said she sees the reality of the enrollment decline. At the same time, she wants the district to attract talent and protect teachers from larger workloads or job loss, she said.
“The morale, the culture within our district is the lowest it’s ever been,” Barrera said. “(The board) really should pay attention to those things and really ask themselves: Is this the person that we want to continue to lead our district?”
But Medina said parent engagement under Espinoza’s leadership has improved since the district hired a multilingual director. The position is helping parents of English learners understand the importance of passing state testing, she said, leading to more students being reclassified as proficient and opening up more academic opportunities for them.
Medina said she has set up four meetings so parents can talk to the superintendent and get their questions answered. The group has gotten larger and more involved.
Espinoza admits more work is needed. He used to think parent engagement was one of his strengths. But it’s been difficult at South Bay Union.
Turnout at events is great. But engagement in shared school leadership and governance is low, he said, including participation in action plan meetings.
Espinoza said the board has continued to ask him to find ways for the district to be competitive and help the community work together. Over the summer, the district invited both of its labor unions to join a conference hosted by the California Labor Management Initiative, an organization focused on fostering collaboration and strengthening relationships within school district labor-management teams. Classified staff and some board members attended the conference, but “teachers refused,” Espinoza said.
“Who in their right mind thinks that by not working together you’re going to come to better outcomes?” he said. “It is the only way, and if this district, if that culture doesn’t change, they’re going to continue to see a lot of struggles.”
Officials plan to close Sunnyslope Elementary at the end of the 2028-29 year and Berry Elementary in 2032.
If Sunnyslope and Berry stay open and each serves around 200 students, Espinoza argues, the district would not be able to provide a wage increase, and staff is unlikely to want that. A survey conducted by School Services also found that South Bay Union is overstaffed in several areas compared to similar districts.
This year, officials project a roughly $11 million shortfall in its $100 million operating budget, followed by a deficit of about $3 million the next year. They project deficit spending to end by the 2028-29 school year.
Espinoza makes about $293,000 a year under his employment agreement that ends June 2027. In July, his contract was up for an extension through June 2030, with the possibility of additional one-year extensions following satisfactory evaluations and board approval. But he pulled the item from the agenda at the top of the meeting before the board could vote.
Espinoza told inewsource there was initial confusion over amendment language, and that the new contract includes details that were approved in a previous update. The district is working on a restatement of the contract to make it “easier to follow and more transparent” and will be put on the agenda at a future meeting, he said.
Type of Content
News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
