The Pajaro Valley Unified School District on Wednesday will consider a proposal to close Pacific Coast Charter School after declining enrollment and chronic absenteeism made the school financially unsustainable.
Located in the district’s headquarters, the hybrid school opened in 1999 and has an enrollment of roughly students who are largely home-schooled, and attend in-person classes 2-3 days per week.
District officials say the school has shown poor academic performance, with numbers that have declined over the past two years.
According to the California School Dashboard, PCCS had a chronic absenteeism of 20.8% in 2024, a number that jumped 14.5% from the previous year.
The school was 93.4 points below state standards in English Language Arts scores that year, and 131.4 points below state standards.
In making the proposal, the district is citing Assembly Bill 1505, which among other things authorizes school districts to close charter schools that are unlikely to be able to implement their program due to financial or other factors, or is not adequately serving their students.
The school has also shown a declining graduation rate, with 81% graduating, a 2.4% drop from the previous year.
The school originally opened as an alternative to traditional schools to serve families that wanted a home-school option, and evolved to include an online component. But over time, those needs shifted and the families said they wanted a different option, PVUSD Superintendent Heather Contreras said.
The recommendation came from the school’s own charter council, and followed talks with district officials beginning in the fall of 2024 about developing a new vision for the school.
“As they started seeing this vision, they decided it was probably time to reimagine themselves,” Contreras said.
If the board approves the closure, the move will not mean an end of a home-school option for students.
Also on Wednesday, the board will hear a report on a plan to restructure the district’s Virtual Academy to include a home-school option.
“Our families do deserve to have different program options from PVUSD,” Contreras said. “We’re excited, and I think the PCCS teachers and families are excited. Overall, we see this as something that will benefit our community.”
•••The PVUSD Board of Trustees will meet at 6pm on March 5 in the Watsonville City Council Chambers at 275 Main Street. For information, click here or visit bit.ly/4eoX4rk.
Thank you, Todd, for an accurate and unbiased account of the situation at PCCS, where I am a teacher. The Sentinel could learn a thing or two from your reporting.