English Learners and students with disabilities in Pasadena Unified face scheduling barriers that limit their access to electives, according to the district's own annual performance report presented to the Board of Education on Thursday, June 25.
The 2025-2026 Local Indicators report — a state-required self-assessment covering five priority areas under California's Local Control Funding Formula — found that English Learners and Long-Term English Learners struggle to fit electives into their schedules because mandatory language development courses eat into available periods. Students with disabilities are "slightly underrepresented" in non-core and elective courses due to conflicts with required services and supports, the report states.
Smaller middle and high schools also offer fewer elective options in visual and performing arts and world languages because of staffing and enrollment constraints. The district scored 4.6 out of 5 overall on course access but acknowledged these gaps. Career Technical Education courses were excluded from the analysis entirely because of inconsistent tagging in the district's student information system, meaning the report cannot show whether CTE access is equitable.
The district enrolls 13,228 students, of whom 1,558 (11.8%) are English Learners and 2,156 (16.3%) have disabilities, according to the district's LCAP overview.
Family engagement: high marks, one weak spot
The report's school climate data, drawn from the Panorama School Climate Survey, showed 95% of families say their child feels safe at school and 91% report a strong sense of belonging. PUSD's family engagement ranks in the 80th to 99th percentile nationally.
But the district gave itself just 2 out of 5 for providing professional learning and support to help teachers partner with families. That was the lowest self-rating in the entire parent engagement section. Several other engagement practices scored 3 out of 5, including supporting staff to learn about each family's strengths, cultures, and languages.
Overall family engagement on the climate survey scored only 39% positive, the lowest category measured.
Other findings
On basic services, the district reported zero students without standards-aligned materials and zero facilities failing to meet good-repair standards. Both figures are self-reported. Of 673.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, 75.2% hold "Clear" credentials and 1.3% are classified as out-of-field, though that data comes from 2023-2024 DataQuest records.
In standards implementation, math professional learning earned a perfect 5 out of 5, while English Language Development training scored 3 out of 5, the lowest among core subjects.
Secondary students' emotion regulation scores improved 3 percentage points from fall 2025 to spring 2026, rising from 54% to 57% across surveys of roughly 7,900 and 7,250 students respectively.
Information item, no vote
The report was a staff presentation. Board President Tina Fredericks presided over the meeting; all seven board members were listed on the agenda, including Dr. Yarma Velázquez, Patrice Marshall McKenzie, Kimberly Kenne, Jennifer Hall Lee, Michelle Richardson Bailey, and Scott Harden. New student board member Errol Dassie was sworn in at the same meeting.
The district's full LCAP, adopted at the same meeting, will be submitted to the Los Angeles County Office of Education for final approval. The document is available for public review at the district's website, pusd.us.
The next regular PUSD board meeting is Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 5 p.m. No regular meetings are scheduled for July or August.
