The Caldwell School District’s Certified Nursing Assistant pathway will merge with its Sports Medicine program starting next school year to help ease budget constraints. 

Trustees approved the merger during a four-hour special board meeting Monday night — with only about 30 minutes of the meeting happening outside of executive session and open to the public.

“It just seems like we’re moving backwards,” Trustee Manuel Godina said of the program merger. “But it just has to be done.”

Board Chair Travis Manning cast the only opposing vote.

Caldwell trustees scrutinized the district’s career-technical education offerings in an effort to trim the budget — down to student enrollment in each class each semester.

With 30 students this semester, the CNA program is the district’s smallest career-technical class. The next smallest is engineering, with 70 students enrolled. The Sports Medicine program, which will absorb the CNA pathway, enrolled 147 students this semester.

Caldwell High Principal Chantel Kelly fielded questions from trustees, who probed to identify areas where consolidation is feasible.

Local leaders said they plan to move staff members impacted by the change to “wherever they can be” integrated.

Declining enrollment, fluctuating attendance and stagnant state funding have converged in Caldwell, where leaders say nearly 1,000 student seats sit vacant.

Trustees also conducted a personnel evaluation Monday.