Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Second Interim Report topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Paramount Unified presents second interim report showing $32M projected deficit; board approves report
Summary
District business services presented the 2025'26 second interim report showing projected revenue of about $272M, expenditures of about $304M and a projected deficit near $32M; the board approved the report 5-0 after a brief question-and-answer period about reserves and enrollment declines.
Paramount Unified School District's business services staff presented the 2025'26 second interim report during the March 11 board meeting, detailing multi-year projections driven by declining enrollment and rising costs.
Patricia Tu and Christina Choi said the district's total revenue is projected at about $272 million while total expenditures are projected at about $304 million, producing a projected deficit spending of roughly $32 million for the period presented. Christina Choi reported that the district's general-fund unrestricted revenue is approximately $166 million with unrestricted expenditures of about $193 million and an unrestricted ending fund balance projected at roughly $53 million.
Presenters explained that the district's reserve for economic uncertainties is approximately $19 million, which the presenters said would cover about one month of operation. The presenters also cited a declining-enrollment mitigation fund (reported in public comment as about $9.65 million) and a fiscal-sustainability reserve that district staff said is discretionary.
Board members asked about the decade-long impact of enrollment decline; staff responded that the district's enrollment has fallen from about 15,000 to roughly 11,000 pupils over the last decade and said that difference would equate to tens of millions of dollars in revenue at current funding rates. In response to a question about the reserve figure, staff clarified that the $19 million reserve represents roughly one month of payroll and operating costs.
After the presentation and questions, the board voted unanimously (5-0) to approve the second interim report. The approval leaves the district with a positive projected ending fund balance across the multi-year projection, though staff noted the balance declines in later years under current assumptions and that continued monitoring and policy choices will be necessary to manage the structural deficit.
Next steps identified in the meeting included continued monitoring, reporting to the board and follow-up with public commenters who provided contact information; presenters did not tie the interim-report adoption directly to specific personnel-implementation decisions in the same meeting.
