Los Alamitos USD posts $2.2M positive variance in unaudited 2024–25 actuals; board adopts resolutions

Timothy Golden, the district's director of fiscal services, told the Los Alamitos Unified School District Board of Education on Sept. 9 that the district's unaudited 2024–25 actuals came in stronger than anticipated, and the board adopted the financial reports and related resolutions by unanimous votes.

Golden said total revenues were approximately $1.3 million above the district's June estimates, driven in part by an unexpected $500,000 in Impact Aid receipts plus higher-than-expected interest and facility-use revenue. At the same time, expenditures were lower than projected in categories such as health and welfare and workers' compensation, producing an ending unrestricted general fund balance roughly $2.2 million above what was projected — approximately a 2 percent variance.

"We're here focused on the unrestricted general fund," Golden said. "To the ending fund balance compared to our estimated actuals, we're about $2,000,000 above what we were expecting." He said the district will carry that increase into the 2025–26 beginning balance and continue to update assumptions as enrollment, attendance and labor negotiations evolve.

Golden reminded the board that cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) do not translate dollar-for-dollar into local revenue growth when enrollment or attendance is declining; he said a 2.3 percent COLA in state rates results in a much smaller realized increase (about 0.27 percent) in locally available funds under current assumptions.

Board members pressed on attendance, which Golden and Superintendent Pulver said is the basis for state funding in California. The district cited current attendance rates in the mid-95 percent range and noted that a one-percentage-point improvement could yield roughly $1 million more per year. A board member framed the per-student daily loss as approximately $65.83 when a pupil is absent.

Following the presentation, the board approved multiple consent and action items related to instruction, personnel and finance. Highlights of board action included:

- Approval of consent item 9f: a UCLA Mathematics Project professional-development day in November focused on using AI to personalize secondary math instruction (motion carried 5–0). - Acceptance of a CTE grant (stated in the record as "Parkins/Carl Parkins/first-century act") for about $31,000 to support career and technical education pathways (motion carried 5–0). - Adoption of the 2025–26 appropriations limit resolution (Gann/appropriations calculation) and adoption of the 2024–25 unaudited actuals for submission to the county office of education and the California Department of Education (motions carried; roll calls recorded as unanimous). - Approval of routine personnel panels, supplemental materials for CTE anatomy and physiology, warrants and the acceptance of donations totaling $88,905.60 for the year (cumulative $182,760.31 since the start of the school year).

Golden said the district meets the 3 percent reserve requirement for the unaudited actuals. He advised the board that the numbers do not yet reflect the outcome of ongoing bargaining with labor units and that auditors will examine the unaudited actuals in December before issuing a final opinion.

The board voted unanimously on the major items and did not refer any of the financial matters for additional action at this meeting.

The district's next scheduled financial reports include the audit presentation in December and subsequent interim reports in January and March.