WCCUSD board names Cheryl Cotton as superintendent

The West Contra Costa Unified School District board welcomed Cheryl Cotton, a former WCCUSD student, teacher, principal and administrator, back to the district Wednesday, naming her superintendent.

In a unanimous vote, with Cinthia Hernandez absent, the board approved a three-year contract for Cotton at $325,000 a year, with a provision for $3,000 increases in the second and third years, contingent on her performance. She will start the job on June 20.

Six community members — including a parent, a school counselor, El Cerrito Mayor Carolyn Wysinger and NAACP Richmond branch President Willie Robinson — applauded the appointment of a home-grown superintendent.

Board member and former teachers union President Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy said the community needs someone like Cotton, who knows the district and would not take a few years to become familiar with it.

“She is someone I know who has high integrity and a proven record of caring about our students, our staff and families,” he said.

Cotton worked for the district in various roles for 14 years, most recently as assistant superintendent of human resources in 2021. She has been working for the state Department of Education since then, as deputy superintendent of instruction, measurement and administration. She holds a bachelor’s degree in social welfare from UC Berkeley and a master’s in education from Mills College in Oakland.

She told the board she was glad to be “home.”

“I see our beauty. I see our strengths. I see our assets within the district, and I also know there are some things that we have to work on that are imperative,” she said. “And I am ready for that work.”

Cotton will replace Kenneth “Chris” Hurst, who abruptly announced his retirement shortly after the school year had started in September and left the post in December. In the interim, the board tapped Kim Moses, associate superintendent of business services, to lead the district.

The board expressed their appreciation of Moses, who will return to business services.

As the district’s third leader in less than a year, Cotton will be charged with pulling the district out of a budget deficit. The district plans to use its entire $28.3 million in reserves to completely cover next year’s budget and reduce the anticipated shortfall in the 2026-27 fiscal year. But unless revenues increase, WCCUSD will face a $41 million deficit in the 2027-28 budget. That could improve if the state’s portion of the district budget goes up — that figure is unknown until the Legislature passes the budget at the end of June. Since state aid is partly tied to student attendance, increasing enrollment would offset the deficit, David Hart, interim association superintendent of business services, told the board during a budget hearing Wednesday.

“If our enrollment does not decline in the manner in which we have forecast, and/or our attendance improves, that will buoy our finances,” he said.

A Richmond Confidential analysis of district data last fall showed a 9% drop in enrollment between 2019 and the current school year, where enrollment is at about 25,000. In the past two budget cycles, declining enrollment resulted in a loss of more than $13 million in state aid, the analysis found.

---

The Stakes: After months of mixed messages, Trump cuts EPA grants to polluted California communities, including North Richmond