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Moreno Valley board hears proposed 2025–26 budget with $7 million projected deficit
Summary
District business staff presented a conservative 2025–26 spending plan that projects $483 million in unrestricted revenue, $388 million in expenditures and a $7 million deficit spend that would reduce reserves to an estimated $102 million; trustees asked detailed questions about enrollment, attendance recovery and long‑term cost drivers.
Moreno Valley Unified School District business staff presented the proposed 2025–26 adopted budget at the board’s June 17 meeting and opened a public hearing on the plan ahead of a formal adoption vote scheduled for June 24.
Chief business officer Susanna Lopez walked trustees through multi‑year projections, enrollment and attendance assumptions, and the revenue mix that underpins the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Lopez said the district projects unrestricted revenues of about $483,000,000 and unrestricted expenditures of about $388,000,000 for 2025–26, producing a projected $7,000,000 deficit spend that would lower projected reserves from $109,000,000 to approximately $102,000,000 by June 30, 2026.
Lopez emphasized that personnel costs drive most of the budget: certificated salaries, classified salaries, management and benefits together represent the bulk of unrestricted expenditures. She also outlined restricted funding streams (federal and state grants) and spending constraints tied to grant requirements.
Trustees asked for more detail. Trustee Rhodes Williams asked which factors drive the multiyear deficit; Lopez cited declining enrollment, step‑and‑column salary increases, retirement cost growth, inflationary pressures (including a 5% utilities escalation assumption) and rising insurance premiums. The district plans to use internal audits and interim reports to adjust projections during the year.
Trustees also pressed staff on new attendance recovery opportunities from the state, including the AR (Attendance Recovery) program due to start July 1. Staff said the AR program could allow the district to recover hourly attendance (for tutoring, after‑school and summer programs) if certificated staff are on site at a required ratio, and that programs such as expanded summer learning may generate supplemental attendance revenue if implemented consistent with state rules.
Public commenters criticized the district’s long‑term fiscal posture. Roy Bleckert told trustees the district is "living on the edge" financially and urged more frank public accounting of personnel costs.
What’s next: staff will finalize the estimated actuals for 2024–25 and return to the board on June 24 to seek formal adoption of the 2025–26 budget and the 2024–25 estimated actuals.
