Duarte USD board approves unaudited 2024–25 financials; structural deficit shrinks to about $996,000

The Duarte Unified School District Board of Education on Thursday approved the district's unaudited actual financial statements for fiscal year 2024''25, a snapshot the district calls a "what happened" accounting of revenues and expenditures. Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Tiffany Bell presented the report and answered board questions.

Bell said the unaudited actuals show the district's ending fund balance rose to about $28 million after accounting for restricted and unrestricted funds, and that the district reduced a structural deficit that began the year at roughly $4.4 million to about $996,000 by year-end. "The unaudited actuals is what we actually received and what we actually spent. No more guessing," Bell said during her presentation.

The report, Bell said, compared the adopted budget, second-interim projections and final unaudited results. Key revenue and expenditure changes cited by staff included a rise in Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) allocations (about $1.2 million), a drop in some federal revenues (about $1.5 million) tied to special education and mental-health allocations, and a state revenue increase of roughly $1.7 million. Local revenues rose by about $2.3 million, in part from charter oversight fees and treasury interest. Bell also told the board the district contributed approximately $8.7 million to special education from general funds and roughly $2.3 million for routine maintenance, moves that reduced the amount of money available for other uses.

Board members pressed staff for more detail on where the $28 million balance sits. Bell said it should be understood as a combined total of restricted and unrestricted funds and offered to provide a breakdown at a later meeting. "Sometimes when people see $28,000,000 they go, 'We got $28,000,000.' I can show you the separation of restricted and unrestricted funds next time," she said.

Discussion at the meeting also touched on attendance-driven funding. The board asked whether the district lost significant revenue through decreased average daily attendance (ADA). Bell said the district typically budgets for a loss of about 100 students year to year and that ADA funding translates to roughly $13,000 per student in the district's model, but she did not provide a single-line ADA loss total during the meeting. She said the district is pursuing attendance-recovery strategies including reinstating attendance clerks at school sites and other outreach.

Board member Laura Hasso, who asked whether the deficit reduction is repeatable, called the improvement "a work in progress" and warned that continued reductions will require ongoing management and accountability across operations.

The board approved the unaudited actuals by unanimous vote (motion by Board Member Olguin; second by Board Member Hasso). Bell said the district will submit the unaudited actuals to the Los Angeles County Office of Education and return to the board at First Interim for the December budget update.

Why it matters: The unaudited actuals provide the district's first comprehensive look at how much money actually arrived and how it was spent during the fiscal year. The numbers guide midyear decisions and are used to comply with state reporting and to inform the next year's budget.