La Cañada Unified board directs staff to implement $1.9 million in budget cuts, votes 5-0

The La Cañada Unified School District Governing Board voted 5-0 on a motion to direct district staff to implement $1,900,000 in budget reductions aimed at addressing a projected structural deficit and preserving required reserve levels.

Superintendent Wendy told the board during a special meeting that district staff had identified $1.9 million in recommended cuts after a month of review, and that the changes were intended to “address the structural deficit and provide for some other things” so the district would not present an uncertified budget. Melissa, the district’s budget presenter, told the board that without reductions the district would have to issue a negative certification to the county for 2025–26.

The cuts staff recommended and the board directed include a mix of programmatic and staffing changes: trimming materials and supplies ($200,000), reducing contracted services ($200,000 targeted), suspending one elementary SAGE therapy contract (savings estimated at $100,000–$150,000), eliminating one administrative 1.0 FTE, small master-schedule efficiencies at the 7–12 level, a $60,000 reduction tied to ninth-grade English/math sections (about three course sections), a reduction in 7–8 GATE services, suspension of the elementary third–sixth grade Spanish pullout program (about $172,000), and raising district elementary class size caps to contract maximums (proposal: 5 FTE reduction districtwide,…