Reading the Morgan Hill Times’ July 16 editorial criticizing the Morgan Hill City Council’s lack of transparency, I couldn’t help but think the paper was focusing on the wrong public agency. The far more serious transparency crisis is unfolding at the Morgan Hill Unified School District.
Transparency is essential, especially when an organization is struggling academically and financially. Parents, taxpayers and employees deserve clear information about how decisions are made regarding spending public dollars.
Unfortunately, MHUSD’s current leadership appears to view public engagement as an inconvenience rather than a responsibility.
Student achievement has declined since Superintendent Carmen Garcia was hired in 2021. According to CAASPP data, in 2018-19 (pre-Covid), 43% of third graders met or exceeded state standards in English Language Arts vs. only 37% in the 2024-25 school year.
Those troubling statistics, well below the state average with a larger decline, should prompt greater public involvement. Instead, the district has become increasingly less transparent.
The financial picture is troubling. Last year, Superintendent Garcia and the board approved a financial plan projecting $33 million in deficit spending over three years, reducing district reserves from 25% to 3% by 2027-28. Trustees Altman, Gardiner and Munson opposed the budget.
When the Santa Clara County Office of Education prepared a warning letter regarding the district’s financial condition, district officials requested, and received, edits that undermined board authority before it was finalized. Rather than providing greater clarity, district officials appeared more focused on softening the warning.
Trustee Sarah Northrup-Gadus declined my request to discuss school priorities by phone, emailing me that she conducts district business only through official email. Yet emails to Superintendent Garcia, President Horner and Trustee Northrup-Gadus go unanswered.
Public officials need not agree with every constituent, but they should engage with the public they serve.
More concerning are apparent failures to comply with legal transparency requirements.
Unlike other Santa Clara County school districts, MHUSD does not give trustees and the public visibility into all expenditures, instead reporting contracts rather than spending.
Despite repeated requests from Trustees Altman, Gardiner and the public, this information remains unavailable. As a result, I asked the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit to review the matter.
The district routinely delays responses to Public Records Act requests. State law generally requires agencies to respond within 10 calendar days. Instead, completion dates are repeatedly extended, even for straightforward requests, making timely oversight nearly impossible.
MHUSD also ignores legal requirements that board agendas be indexable and electronically searchable, preventing search engines and AI platforms from finding agenda items.
The district also fails to prominently post Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee agendas on its home page as required by law. My requests to fix this have been ignored.
Education Code 35145.5 allows the public to place items on the board agenda. When I asked to add an agenda to discuss district governance concerns, President Horner denied the request, citing his need to make the best use of meeting time.
Suffice it to say I don’t think most informed residents would think the board meetings are filled with more important agenda items.
None of these issues alone would justify a loss of public confidence. Together, however, they paint a governing culture that resists scrutiny instead of embracing it.
Public trust is earned through openness, especially in challenging times. When academic performance declines, financial risks grow and transparency diminishes, the community should ask whether current leadership is serving the district’s best interests.
Morgan Hill’s students, families, teachers and taxpayers deserve leaders who welcome accountability, transparency and public engagement. The district needs new leadership, including school board members, who will be committed to rebuilding public trust.
Christopher Robell
Morgan Hill resident, Silicon Valley Taxpayer Association Board Member
