Chula Vista board adopts 2025–26 budget and LCAP, asks staff to identify larger reductions to protect reserves

The Chula Vista Elementary School District Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt the district—s 2025—26 proposed budget and the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), and directed staff to prepare a larger set of budget reductions to protect the district—s multi-year reserves.

The action approved a proposed 2025—26 general fund budget staff presented in May that earlier projected approximately $400.7 million in revenue and about $455.0 million in expenditures, producing an initial decrease in fund balance of roughly $54.3 million. Board members pressed staff to bring back a more robust reduction plan after senior staff warned that current projections would reduce the district—s ability to meet state minimum reserve targets in later years.

Board members said the vote was necessary to allow the district to operate in the coming fiscal year while immediately addressing an emerging multi-year structural gap. Assistant Superintendent/Business Services Mark Pong told the board the district is projecting a meaningful decline in revenue assumptions in later years and that the district—s unrestricted fund balance would decline by about $23.8 million in 2025—26 without offsetting action. He also noted the district has one-time commitments and set-asides totaling roughly $47.5 million that have been used to smooth recent deficits.

Board members agreed to adopt the budget with an explicit instruction that staff draft a list of budget reductions for inclusion in the 2025—26 First Interim Report. During discussion trustees argued for an even larger reduction target than what staff had initially proposed; the board asked staff to plan options in the $4—$5 million range and to provide a menu of reductions and potential timelines at an upcoming budget workshop.

The board asked staff to prioritize reductions that avoid immediate, deep cuts inside classrooms where possible and to bring a transparently costed plan to the next public budget workshop. Trustees emphasized they wanted to take steps early to limit personnel impacts later: "If we act now, the savings compound; waiting makes layoffs harder to avoid," a trustee said during debate.

What happens next: staff will finalize the district—s unaudited actuals and present a detailed multi-year budget workshop and a recommended list of reductions and trade-offs prior to the First Interim Report. The board set the expectation that any proposed reductions and alternatives be presented with their fiscal impacts and implementation timelines.

Numbers and authorities cited by staff: projected 2025—26 revenue about $400.7 million; projected 2025—26 expenditures about $455.0 million; projected unrestricted fund decrease about $23.8 million. Staff told the board the state requires districts to show a minimum reserve (3 percent) for fiscal oversight; the board directed staff to prepare reductions to protect and, in discussion, aim for a larger reserve cushion beyond the statutory minimum.

Board vote: 5—0 to approve the 2025—26 proposed budget and the related resolution directing staff to identify the reductions (motion carried unanimously).