Veteran superintendents chart a course through declining enrollment, budget pressures and board politics

When experienced school district leaders gathered to speak frankly about the pressures reshaping public education, the insights were candid, hard-won and occasionally sobering. That was the atmosphere at a USC Rossier Connects panel on April 29, where superintendents from across Southern California shared lessons from the frontlines of declining enrollment, shrinking budgets, staff burnout and the challenge of board politics. Moderated by USC Rossier Dean Pedro Noguera, the panelists included Darin Brawley EdD ’17, Alfonso Jimenez EdD ’12, Monica Oviedo MS ’99, EdD ‘04 and Vivian Ekchian EdD ’19.

Declining enrollment was the session’s central thread. Brawley, superintendent at Compton Unified School District, described a methodical 12-year approach that avoided mass layoffs by closing small schools, redistributing classified staff into vacancies and keeping an open and honest line of communication with parents. Rather than softening the blow with euphemisms, Brawley told families the truth: A school of 200 students cannot generate the categorical funding needed to offer the programming available at schools three or four times that size. “Were they happy? No,” Brawley said, “but they understood their children were missing out.”

That candor resonated with Jimenez, superintendent at Culver City Unified School District, who also advocated for a direct approach. When Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, where he previously served as superintendent, went through closures, administrators learned a hard lesson about language. “Don't use words like reorganization or optimization,” Jimenez said. “Just tell us what you’re doing, that you are closing schools.” The board president lost their seat during that process, a reminder that transparency, while uncomfortable, is less costly than confusing the message.

Several panelists painted a stark fiscal picture. Jimenez noted that 95 percent of Culver City’s budget is personnel costs, leaving just three percent for reserves and two percent for operations. “My colleagues know, you can’t run a district like that. You can’t run a business that way, either,” Jimenez added. “That’s a real challenge that we’re looking at right now.”

Oviedo, superintendent at Whittier Union High School District, described a similar balancing act, managing annual enrollment declines of roughly three percent while preserving programming through dual enrollment partnerships with community colleges and a deliberate, collaborative budget review process involving unions, classified staff and the broader community. While her district’s enrollment has a three-percent decline annually, Whittier’s current enrollment remains above where it was in 1979, when two of its comprehensive high schools closed. “We’re doing well in that respect,” she said, “But it is challenging.”

The panel offered a nuanced debate on teacher burnout. Ekchian, who served as superintendent of the Glendale Unified School District, emphasized the importance of strong leaders and their ability to retain staff by recognizing and addressing working conditions. “Most leaders that are good listeners are able to maintain staff based on this quality,” Ekchian said. Brawley challenged the prevailing narrative of burnout directly: After years of conducting exit surveys in Compton, his data shows teachers leave primarily for better pay and benefits at neighboring districts, not burnout. “We simply don’t see a lot of teachers leaving because they’re burned out,” he said. Ekchian offered a counterpoint rooted in context; schools serving historically marginalized communities cannot operate under a one-size-fits-all framework. To support teachers, Oviedo mentioned Whittier Union’s response with expanded school social workers, mental health partnerships, yoga and sound bath sessions for staff, and an internal coaching model that avoids costly outside consultants.

Ekchian, reflecting on her time at Glendale amid significant community tensions around LGBTQ+ policies and pandemic divisions, spoke to the personal cost. In addition, she also underscored the importance of building durable systems. The work, she argued, must outlast any single leader. “I don’t think I will ever forget that. But I also know that over time, these trends change,” she added. “We never changed the board policy. We made it even stronger.”

The panel also addressed superintendent longevity. With the national average tenure at approximately three years, Brawley’s 14 years in Compton drew repeated admiration. His explanation was direct: complete alignment between the board and superintendent around putting students first, combined with a deliberate practice of treating every board member equally. “Never put any board member above another,” he advised. “The others picked up on it.”