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Budget update: Title I funding jumps; trustees press for clearer reserve accounting
Summary
Finance staff reported a substantial increase in Title I funding (from about $167,000 to roughly $463,000) and outlined revenue, recapture and reserves. Trustees raised concerns about low cash reserves relative to policy targets and asked for a historical reserve reconciliation and clarification on liability insurance impacts.
District finance staff gave trustees a detailed budget briefing, including programmatic and revenue changes that will affect next year’s planning.
Highlights included a reported Title I award increase — staff said the district’s Title I allocation rose from about $167,000 this year to approximately $463,000 for fiscal year 2026 due to changes in census-based population measures. Finance staff noted revenues and recapture estimates (recapture roughly $69 million projected this year, down from prior years due to property-tax legislation) and listed preliminary expenditures (salaries and benefits at about $60.5 million and total expenditures near $70.9 million).
Trustees probed cash-reserve levels. Finance staff said general-fund cash reserves are around $3–3.5 million and explained that other account balances are restricted for capital and cannot simply be transferred. Trustees asked staff to provide a list of prior board-approved uses of reserves and to examine whether district policy language referencing GASB 54 should be clarified. Staff said they would follow up with audit references and a historical list of board decisions that drew on reserves.
The discussion also included liability-insurance renewal uncertainty and potential grant opportunities to recover some insurance costs if applications are filed by June 30.
