On Dec. 15, 2025, the Tamalpais Union High School District voted in favor of the co-location of Tamiscal and San Andreas in a four-to-one vote. The measure to co-locate the schools into one “merged” campus comes as a result of an operating surplus deficit that is projected to reach around $2.3 million in the 2026-27 school year.
The deficit comes as a result of two major factors pointed out by Superintendent Dr. Courtney Goode, who was presenting the proposition to board members: less than anticipated revenues and higher than expected costs.
“Our operating deficit has grown by roughly 400,000 since I presented last month,” Goode said. “For instance, the deficit in [2025-26] was approximately $650,000 last month when I presented. Now, it’s a bit over $930,000.”
To cut the deficit, the district analyzed key spending pieces.
“85 percent of our budget [is spent on] staffing. That’s where, unfortunately, we need to look for the majority of these reductions,” Goode said.
Along with the transition of both schools to one singular campus, the plan by the district is to cut staffing and make curriculum changes to meet a student-to-teacher ratio of 10:1, a ratio higher than the current 7.7:1 ratio. However, Goode pointed out that the 10:1 ratio is still lower than the 11.7:1 student-to-teacher ratio during the 2019-20 school year.
“The reduction that we are proposing from February would increase that certificated staff to student ratio, but still keep it lower than what it was at peak staffing,” Goode said.
New proposed reductions were added to the proposal as well. Goode proposed lowering the reduction of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) teachers and counselors from the removal of 5.6 to 4.6 FTE staff members. This reduction comes at the cost of the use of outside consultant Bay Area Community Resources (BACR).
“We propose to end [BACR] services at Alt-Ed and bring the services in-house, very similar to what we did with the Hub and the [Black Student Success Support Team], eliminating the middle man,” Goode said.
The Hub and the Black Student Success Support Team (BSST) were district-hired consultants used in the past. The BSST worked on boosting students’ grades, attendance, test scores and engagement, and the Hub worked on supporting the goals of Black students to increase equity among minority students. Both of these consultants were denied renewal in June as a result of budget concerns.
Many community members voiced concerns about the plan during the board meeting. George Pegelow, a former consultant for the National Football League Players Association and former Stanford professor, was one of the many community members present who voiced concerns on the matter.
Pegelow believed that the board wasn’t doing enough to incorporate student opinion into the decision, citing the need for greater student involvement in board operations.
“There has not been enough effort on the part of this board to engage students in deciding how to proceed. There are over 4000 students in this district, and it’s certain that many of them are very intelligent, creative and also are willing to look at change. And so I suggest that [board members] have a dialogue with students before [they] end up making a decision,” Pegelow said. “None of the districts have a real voice for students. Schools exist for students. Why aren’t [they] involved in decision-making? And to suggest that [they’re] just not old enough, we’ve seen some immature behavior on the part of the adults on this panel that is inexcusable.”
Co-location will begin near the end of December with the transition of students and staff to a single campus. The new principal of the co-located campus will be former Tamiscal principal Kim Stiffler.
