Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
HLPUSD superintendent warns declining enrollment and attendance are straining district finances
Summary
Superintendent Alfonso Jimenez told a town hall that enrollment has fallen from roughly 24,000 a decade ago to about 15,480 currently, cited lower kindergarten cohorts and reduced attendance after COVID, and said the board has asked for a financial health risk analysis (FHRA) with a vendor to inform next steps.
Superintendent Dr. Alfonso Jimenez used the town hall to flag declining student enrollment and attendance as the district's primary fiscal challenge and described steps the board and staff are taking to analyze financial risk.
Jimenez said HLPUSD once served around 24,000 students a decade ago and currently serves roughly 15,480 students. He attributed part of the decline to lower birth rates and cited kindergarten enrollment dropping from about 1,200 students to roughly 900 in recent years.
"For every 300 students that we lose... that's about $6,000,000 we don't have in the revenue the following year," Jimenez said, linking enrollment declines to multi-million-dollar budget impacts. He added that improving average daily attendance by one percentage point could yield an estimated $2,000,000 in revenue the next year.
The superintendent said the board directed the district to pursue a financial health risk analysis (FHRA) and named a vendor, Vicmat, to perform the work. Jimenez said the district posts budget documents on the business services page and encouraged community review of the materials and attendance at board meetings.
Jimenez also described attendance trends: a pre-COVID attendance rate near 97% fell to about 90% after the pandemic and is recovering toward about 93%. He listed housing shortages and demographic changes as contributing factors and said more discussion with the board is planned.
The district did not announce specific cuts or new revenue measures at the town hall but said the FHRA and continued board review will guide future budget actions.
