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Finance chief outlines budget timeline, mitigation progress and new equity-focused worksheet
Summary
Finance staff reported October expenditures, described a mitigation plan that reduced a prior $23.2 million deficit and detailed an accelerated FY26–27 budget timeline plus new worksheet changes that return allocations to an enrollment basis with additional weighted support for special education and multilingual learners.
Finance director Mr. Hernandez presented the October financial report and an updated budget-development schedule, telling the committee, "For total expenditures through October 31, we had $56,400,000," and that the district is monitoring two line items — transportation and tuition — that drove encumbrances to roughly $90,000,000.
He reviewed mitigation work that he said has reduced an earlier $23,200,000 deficit down to a remaining mitigation target of about $3,800,000 and noted a $3,000,000 city allocation as a gap measure. "We started with a $23,200,000 deficit," he said, and "we reduced that to that 3.8" million through prior actions and cost controls.
Mr. Hernandez laid out an aggressive FY26–27 timeline: school-by-site budgets submitted by November 17, department and staffing worksheets completed by November 26, principal cohort Zoom meetings December 4–8, a first draft in January, a Finance & Operations (FNO) committee presentation on February 2, a board draft on February 9 and a recommended budget for the board on February 23. He told the committee the budget methodology will return to an enrollment basis using October 1 counts and will include a new "additional support" line weighted for special-education and multilingual students so that allocations reflect student needs.
He also described worksheet changes, including a percentage-change indicator and additional principal flexibility to reallocate general‑fund school dollars across categories. Mr. Hernandez said the changes were "well received by the principals" and that staff will compare staffing rosters with principals to resolve minor discrepancies before finalizing numbers.
Board members asked about public engagement; staff and board members agreed to run a ThoughtExchange or similar tool in January to gather community priorities and to post the presentation materials with meeting packets for public access.
