Paramount Unified staff outlines governor's January budget, warns of enrollment-driven revenue losses

At the Feb. 11 meeting, Paramount Unified business services staff presented the governor's January budget and local planning factors, outlining how Prop 98 and enrollment trends influence K–14 funding.

Budget staff (Miss Tu) explained that Prop 98 provides a funding floor for districts and that the governor's approach in the January proposal uses an adjusted delivery method; she said some districts prefer returning to the traditional formula to recover full expected funding. For 2026–27 staff projected an average per-ADA funding of roughly $17,436 and estimated the district's funded average daily attendance at about 10,827.98; multiplying those figures produced a projected LCFF total near $188,700,000 for the year.

Miss Tu and staff also presented multi-year projections showing declining enrollment statewide and locally. She told trustees that since 2018–19 statewide enrollment fell 6.1% and that local decline is expected to continue, driving projected revenue declines (staff cited a revenue loss on the order of $14.3M attributable to ADA decline from the prior year). Staff emphasized the timing of the state process (January proposal, May revise, and final adoption in June) and cautioned that the May revise will clarify final state support.

Board discussion focused on how the district will respond to declining ADA and one-time spending that is ending, and several trustees pressed staff for data that connects consultant spending to student outcomes. A board member cited approximately $145,000 in consultant expenses and questioned whether that spending produced expected improvements in attendance and subgroup performance; staff and union representatives agreed to provide more detailed outcome metrics.

District leadership said they are reviewing multiyear fiscal projections and will return to the board with additional analysis during the budget cycle.