Mount Diablo Unified holds public hearings on draft LCAP and proposed 2025–26 budget amid deficit projections

The Mount Diablo Unified School District Board of Education heard a draft Local Control and Accountability Plan and a proposed 2025–26 budget during public hearings June 11.

District staff presented the LCAP draft and a high-level review of the budget. Superintendent Adam Clark and LCAP presenters described the LCAP as a three-year strategic plan that sets goals, actions and metrics for standards‑based instruction, staff development, family and community engagement, and targeted support for student groups including long‑term English learners. Christina Filios and Samantha Allen and other staff said the draft incorporates feedback gathered this spring from more than 1,800 parents, community members and staff and more than 3,500 students.

Why it matters: the LCAP guides how district and state supplemental funds are used to support unduplicated pupils (students who are English learners, foster youth or eligible for free or reduced-price meals) and ties those uses to measurable outcomes. The proposed budget determines whether the district can sustain programs the LCAP calls for.

In the budget presentation, Executive Director of Fiscal Services Gustavo Aguilera and other business staff said the district projects 2025–26 revenues of about $470 million, with the Local Control Funding Formula providing roughly $353 million (about 75 percent of total). Projected expenditures total about $515 million. The district tied roughly $67 million of planned spending directly to LCAP actions and services. The proposed budget shows a planned operating deficit of $44.3 million in 2025–26 and uses assigned and committed reserves to remain solvent; staff projected an ending fund balance of roughly $114 million across funds in the proposed budget.

Staff noted several uncertain state items that could change the outlook: a proposed additional TK add‑on and a one‑time student support/professional‑development block grant were still undetermined. If enacted as written, those items could materially improve the district’s three‑year projection; staff cautioned that legislative proposals change and recommended not budgeting those one‑time items until final enacted amounts are clear. Staff also said the district is planning for possible reductions in the second and third out years to limit longer‑term deficit exposure.

Board members and public speakers asked questions about how the LCAP and budget fund class size reductions, where supplemental dollars are spent, and how the district will prioritize limited resources. Trustee discussion repeatedly stressed uncertainty at the state and federal levels and the need to preserve reserves while targeting resources to classroom instruction.

The board opened and then closed the required public hearings. No adoption of the final LCAP or the budget occurred at the June 11 meeting; the board scheduled final adoption of the 2025–26 budget and further LCAP action at the June 25 meeting. Staff encouraged stakeholders to submit written LCAP feedback by email and said printed and translated drafts were available.

Looking ahead: the district will return to the board for final action after the legislature’s budget negotiations and before the July 1 statutory deadline to adopt a budget; staff said any material changes required by the enacted state budget would be presented in an August 45‑day revision if necessary.