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Lawrence Alliance for Education approves FY26 budget totaling $307,026,144
Summary
The Lawrence Alliance for Education voted to approve version 2 of the FY26 operating budget — $307,026,144 — after a presentation by finance staff that emphasized enrollment growth, grant funding, and staffing priorities.
The Lawrence Alliance for Education voted to approve version 2 of the district's fiscal year 2026 operating budget — $307,026,144 — at its May 14 meeting.
Finance director Jason Cabrera presented the budget package to the board and described the version-2 figure as a compromise between district priorities and the city's offer. The presentation explained how enrollment growth, charter tuition, state and federal receipts and grant funding were factored into the appropriation the board approved to send to the city council.
The budget matters because it sets staffing, programs and services for the coming school year; Cabrera told the board the proposal funds all current positions and includes investments in early childhood expansion, curricular enhancements, expanded multilingual staffing and facilities maintenance.
Cabrera said the district accounted for a large inflow of new students this year — roughly 586 new students after the October 1 count — and estimated average per-student operating costs around $24,000 when combining regular education, multilingual and special education costs. “If I incorporate all of those together, would it be fair that I say for each student that comes into the district, it'd be about $24,000?” a board member asked; Cabrera agreed with the rough calculation.
Grant funding was discussed at length. Cabrera said the district receives about $14–17 million in federal grants, with roughly $6 million of that covering salaries. He emphasized that federal grant cycles differ from the local budget cycle and cautioned that changes at the federal level would affect future grant cycles, not the current FY26 appropriation.
The presentation also flagged program changes: the multilingual (ML) department budget was slated to increase substantially, with staffing growing in the department from eight to 21 positions in Cabrera’s projection; the district is expanding visual and performing arts staffing and other targeted investments mentioned in the superintendent's priorities letter to the mayor.
Board members asked detailed questions about grants, the timing of federal reimbursements, how charter tuition affects the calculation, whether certain school-level administrative posts (assistant principals) were included, and how many positions the proposal funded. Cabrera and staff said budget details would be corrected where needed before the packet went to city council; the board passed the budget motion to forward the proposal.
The board’s approval sends version 2 to the city council for final appropriation; Cabrera said he and the superintendent planned to present the budget to council on May 20. Superintendent Ralph Guerrero described the proposal as aligned to district priorities and said the administration would continue to review staffing allocations and grant strategies to maximize supports for students.
