FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Fresno Unified School District is reassigning hundreds of employees as part of a workforce reduction process aimed at avoiding layoffs, while officials warn that declining enrollment and financial constraints may continue to impact staffing and schools.<\/p>\n
About 200 classified employees and 59 certificated employees are being reassigned or placed into a benefited position within the district, according to district officials.<\/p>\n
“So, at a total count of 263 notices, we have already rescinded over 35 notices,” said Annarita Howell, assistant superintendent of human resources for Fresno Unified.<\/p>\n
District leaders described the process as “bumping,” in which employees are moved into other roles to prevent layoffs.<\/p>\n
RELATED: FUSD employees may have to ‘bump’ others out of a job to keep their own<\/a><\/p>\n Those changes can include shifts to different classifications, departments or pay scales.<\/p>\n “Once you go through the bumping process and there’s no longer an open position, or they’re not senior enough to a position, where they would bump somebody out, at that point a true layoff is what happens,” said David Chavez, the district’s chief of human resources.<\/p>\n Some employees have also chosen to voluntarily take lower positions, officials said.<\/p>\n “There are a lot of people who are family-oriented, and they want to make sure they have that work-life balance. So they opted to drop from 261 to 239 or 215,” Howell said.<\/p>\n Union leaders said the decisions are difficult, particularly for those who work closely with students.<\/p>\n “Putting people that are working with our students on a day-to-day basis in this tremendously tough decision,” said Manuel Bonilla of the Fresno Teachers Association.<\/p>\n District officials cited a steady enrollment decline since the COVID-19 pandemic as a key factor driving staffing changes.<\/p>\n “We’ve lost between 1,000 and 1,500 kids every year since the pandemic hit. And it looks with projections that it’s going to carry on till at least 2030,” Howell said.<\/p>\n Fresno Unified leaders said the trend is not unique, pointing to other large districts facing similar challenges.<\/p>\n “You’ll see the same issues occurring at in San Francisco, Sacramento, LA Unified, San Diego, and all urban districts are in a similar place with declining enrollment and the budgetary challenges,” said Patrick Jensen, the district’s chief financial officer.<\/p>\n The district said the impact on students remains unclear. Chavez noted that campuses are feeling the effects for the first time in several years.<\/p>\n “This is actually the first year out of the last three or four years that we’re impacting school sites,” he said.<\/p>\n Officials also said they are not ruling out potential school closures in the future, though any decision would involve public input.<\/p>\n “We would push back against any school closures, any school closures has a tremendous negative impact to the communities that that school serves,” Bonilla said.<\/p>\n District leaders said if closures are considered, the process would include engagement with the community before any final decisions are made.<\/p>\n For news updates, follow Christina Lopez on Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2026 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n