Dr. Michael O'Neil, coordinator of assessment and accountability, told the Desert Sands Unified School District Board on Dec. 16 that district-level results on the California School Dashboard for 2024–25 show pockets of progress alongside persistent disparities.

“The ELA DFS for Desert Sands is 34 points below standard with a very strong growth of 5.2 points,” O'Neil said, noting the district’s overall color placement is yellow for English language arts. He reported math remains further from standard — “77.5 DFS points below standard with a good gain of 2.2 points” and an overall orange designation.

The presentation highlighted specific student-group concerns: English learners, long-term English learners, homeless students and students with disabilities scored in lower bands on several indicators. O'Neil said 45.8% of English learners are making progress on the English Learner Progress indicator, slightly below the state’s 46.4%.

The dashboard also showed stronger outcomes in college and career preparedness (56.4%) and high graduation rates, while chronic absenteeism remains a district challenge at 27.1% though trending downward.

Following the dashboard presentation, the district’s interim finance report underscored why the data matter for budgeting. The district’s budget presenter said enrollment has dropped from about 28,582 students seven years ago to 25,249 in 2025–26 — a loss of 3,333 students, or roughly 11.7% over that period. The presenter forecasted a roughly 400-student decline next year and noted a flat-promotion scenario could produce as large as an 856-student drop.

“The fund balance has grown” largely because of one-time COVID relief, the presenter said, citing $181,000,000 in COVID-related funds the district received. But that one-time funding, rising staffing levels (about 314 FTE added since 2019/2021), and uncertainty over future cost-of-living adjustments and collective bargaining create ongoing risk. The presenter estimated an average revenue of about $16,200 per student and said a shortfall of roughly 300 students equates to about $5 million.

Board members praised the detailed school-level data but raised questions about chronic absenteeism and subgroup performance. Trustees and staff said the district is developing an attendance recovery plan intended to restore pre-pandemic attendance levels and mitigate funding losses.

The board did not take formal budget-cutting action during the meeting; staff said a second interim update is planned in March and that the district will continue monitoring bargaining outcomes and state COLA decisions.

The board is expected to receive further budget modeling and follow-up on attendance-recovery strategies in upcoming meetings.