The Sequoia Union High School District (SUHSD) Board unanimously voted to permanently close TIDE Academy at its Feb. 4 meeting due to financial struggles. The primary reason for closing the school was to keep the three-year budget projection on track.
TIDE Academy opened in August 2019 as a small school designed for specialized, individualized learning. TIDE enrollment is determined by an application process, attracting students from San Mateo to East Palo Alto (EPA).
During the meeting, multiple community members argued that Board members had misrepresented the data and that Superintendent Crystal Leach had misled the TIDE community and other trustees.
Here’s a closer look at some of the financial data on TIDE presented by the Board, along with more TIDE statistics compared to other District schools.
Enrollment
TIDE follows a common trend of District-wide declining enrollment rates, which the decreasing number of school-aged children over the past few decades could partially explain. When a school as small as TIDE has lower enrollment, even a small deficit can be quite significant. TIDE was originally intended to serve 300 students, but its peak enrollment was roughly 243.
East Palo Alto Academy (EPAA) is a similarly sized charter school that opened in 2001 and is also part of the District. In the 2025-26 school year, 278 students were enrolled.
During the board meeting, trustees cited declining enrollment as a motivating factor for the TIDE closure, noting that the school didn’t meet its enrollment projections. However, many TIDE community members claimed that it was never plausible for the school to hold 300 students, and that all District schools are facing a similar enrollment decline.
Cost Per Pupil
In the 2025-26 school year, TIDE spent $39,169 per student. This cost, known as Per-Pupil Expenditure (PPE), was $10,000 above EPAA’s and almost $20,000 above M-A.
TIDE has also become a safe space for neurodivergent students. At TIDE, 22% of students have individualized education plans (IEPs), and roughly 14% have a 504 plan. The significant difference in PPE between TIDE and EPAA could be attributed to TIDE’s smaller student-to-teacher ratio and the additional resources required to fulfill IEPs, given its larger population of students with disabilities.
| TIDE | Menlo Atherton | EPAA | |
| Total Enrollment in ‘24-’25 | 212 | 2,158 | 278 |
| Pupils to Academic Counselors | 110:1 | 270:1 | 143:1 |
| Number of Counselors | 3 | 8 | 2 |
TIDE emphasizes a smaller learning environment, providing students with more personalized attention. Despite EPAA’s larger student population, TIDE has more counselors. While funding one additional counselor may seem insignificant, the highest paid salary of a TIDE academic advisor in 2023 was $219,699.
Transporation
TIDE draws students from around the District. With 60% of the student body living in EPA and Menlo Park, the requirement for providing transportation to a school in East Menlo Park is apparent. To fulfill this need, bus drivers, vehicles, gas, and maintenance must all be funded. Local SamTrans bus routes do not have direct routes with stops near TIDE, so the school provides transportation to minimize this inconvenience.
Many families rely on the transportation provided by the school. For students eligible to drive, finding parking can be a problem in itself, as there are only roughly 50 spots for both staff and students. As a result, TIDE spends $315,000 annually on two bus routes that serve nine stops, all of which go to the school.
Class Size
A staggering four students are enrolled in a section of TIDE’s AP Physics 2 course. Various other classes also have a similarly small number of students. Even many CTE classes, which TIDE’s curriculum is largely focused on, have sections with fewer than 10 students.
As the Board noted, the District can only support these small environments to a certain extent. Staffing these classes can put financial strain on the District, as teachers must be paid a full salary to teach only a handful of students.
However, not all classes are so sparsely attended. Some of TIDE’s average class sizes compare to those at M-A. More specifically, the English classes at both TIDE and M-A share similar averages.
| TIDE Academy | Menlo Atherton | EPAA | |
| English Language Arts | 20 | 20 | 18 |
| Mathematics | 18 | 24 | 28 |
| Science | 19 | 26 | 20 |
| Social Science | 19 | 24 | 20 |
While TIDE and M-A have the same average class size, M-A offers support classes that are dramatically smaller than most English classes at M-A.
Staff
Staff payments made up 92% of TIDE’s expenses in the 2024-25 school year.
The Full-time Equivalent (FTE) is the ideal student-to-teacher ratio, calculated using a formula the District applies to all its schools. TIDE is consistently above the FTE and has an excessive number of teachers per student. In the 2024-25 school year, the school had 10 extra teachers, an average of 46%.
In the 2025-26 school year, TIDE spent a total of $7,171,499 on staff payments. This is an increase of $76,029 from the previous year.
Certificated salaries pay for staff who hold credentials and degrees that qualify them to teach students. These individuals are teachers, counselors, or other staff who hold master’s degrees or other certifications that validate their classroom abilities. Because of these required qualifications, teachers are paid higher salaries to compensate for the additional coursework and education.
This can cause financial strain, especially when paired with declining enrollment, small class sizes, and classroom staffing overages, as the school is required to allocate almost all of its budget to staff costs.
Closing TIDE is a monumental decision for the District. The data provides context for the Board’s claims of the underutilization of financial resources at the Academy. Ultimately, these factors, along with others, justified the closure of TIDE from the District’s perspective.
