Santa Ana Unified School District officials told community members at a Dec. 2025 town hall that the district’s first-interim budget is "positively certified," but that a longer-term structural deficit tied to declining enrollment remains a central challenge.

"We, are positively certified, which means we will meet our financial obligations this year in the 2 subsequent years," Jennifer Cisneros, the district’s executive director of finance and operations, told the meeting. Cisneros said state forecasts show a projected structural deficit of about $35,000,000,000 for 2026–27 that increases uncertainty for school funding beyond the current year.

Ron Hacker, the district chief business officer, framed the district’s work as putting a plan before numbers. "A budget is nothing other than a plan with numbers," he said, describing a multi-year approach that pairs the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) revenue with a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) for priorities.

Officials presented a multi-year revenue and expenditure history showing pandemic-era federal and state inflows that temporarily boosted reserves. Cisneros reported the district’s unrestricted ending fund balance is projected at roughly $85,000,000 (about 44% of the district’s ending fund balance for 2025–26) after spending down several restricted block grants and maximizing carryover funds such as Title I/III.

Presenters said LCFF remains the district’s largest revenue source (roughly 70–75% of total revenue), with federal and other state/local revenue filling the remainder. Cisneros cited updated COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) projections used in planning: 2.51% for 2026–27, about 3.7% for 2027–28 and roughly 4% for 2028–29.

Hacker and Cisneros described actions already taken and planned under a prior fiscal stabilization resolution and a core-resolution that allows flexing categorical restricted dollars to protect unrestricted reserves. Among the strategies discussed were targeting every vacancy for review, using temporary contracts funded by one-time dollars to retain staffing flexibility, and continuing internal and external audits of supplies, services and capital spending.

When asked about the causes of the structural deficit, presenters pointed repeatedly to long-term declines in enrollment. "We've had massive decline in enrollment... and what's happened is that declining enrollment has worked against the cost of living adjustment," Hacker said.

Officials also attributed a portion of year-to-year expenditure changes to timing: delayed deliveries and a postponed textbook adoption led to purchases being booked in 2025–26 rather than 2024–25. The district estimated annual Medi‑Cal medical-billing reimbursements at approximately $15–$20 million; staff said those reimbursements are recorded as local, unrestricted revenue that helps the general fund.

Next steps outlined by staff included an internal audit of supplies/services to be validated by external auditors, a planned presentation of the 24–25 external audit in January or February (timing affected by federal delays), and a deep-dive on enrollment and special-education budget impacts at second interim.

The meeting closed with a reminder that the board’s budget actions, ongoing budget committee reviews, and community input to the LCAP will shape the district’s spending priorities and any further fiscal-stabilization measures.