Public Comment – Agenda Item 9. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT & COUNCILMEMBER REPORTS Submitted by Councilmember Sparks
On Wed. 1/14/26 I attended the 2x2x2 (Rohnert Park – Cotati – CRPUSD) Education Committee meeting with Councilmember Savage. There were two important items discussed:
1. CRPUSD is experiencing a budget shortfall of at least $5M. Reductions in force are occurring, with an emphasis on preserving smaller class sizes in the youngest grades. It is important to continue advocating for enrollment-based funding rather than average daily attendance funding which is unpredictable and penalizes the district for students who are kept home due to illness, etc. It is also important to continue advocating for the State of California to move away from our funding formula in which wealthy “basic aid” districts can receive 2-3x as much funding per pupil compared to poorer districts.
2. The SRO (School Resource Officer) that has been fully funded by the City of Rohnert Park in the past has been reassigned to help cover patrol shifts. Rohnert Park is experiencing acute staffing difficulties due to a variety of issues converging (leaves of absence / long term training, etc.). It came up in the discussion that Rohnert Park would like to invite more participation from Cotati in discussions regarding the future and funding of the SRO position. I have spoken with City Manager O’Bid about initiating City Manager and Police / Public Safety Chief level conversations, and the possibility of bringing this to the Police Advisory Committee and City Council for conversations in the future.