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Board certifies second interim financial report as positive; adopts bilingual credential skip criteria
Summary
At its March 10 meeting the Santa Barbara Unified board unanimously certified a 'positive' second interim financial report for FY 2025‑26 and adopted Resolution 2025‑26/26A to add bilingual credentials (BCLAD/DLI) to layoff skip criteria; trustees discussed reserves, restricted funds and ELOP allocations.
The Santa Barbara Unified Board of Education voted unanimously on March 10 to certify its second interim financial report for fiscal year 2025‑26 as "positive" and adopted a separate resolution amending certificated layoff skip criteria to include bilingual credentials used in Dual Language Immersion (DLI) programs.
Budget certification: Trustee Escobedo moved and Trustee Beal seconded certification of the second interim. The board approved the motion unanimously after the district's finance director presented the report, which covers transactions through January 31 and serves as the primary mid‑year fiscal update.
Key fiscal points presented to trustees:
- The combined district deficit increased by nearly $2 million compared with the previous interim, driven largely by restricted‑fund dynamics. - Unrestricted reserves rose slightly to about 8.61% of the general fund; the unrestricted structural deficit was reported at roughly $12.2 million. - Restricted funds increased in some programs. The Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP) allocation rose from earlier projections to about $5.2 million, a materially larger grant this year that the district plans to spend down to expand after‑school and summer programming. - The finance presentation included a multiyear projection that assumes planned cuts and an assigned placeholder (roughly $1.786 million) to cover junior‑high seventh‑period implementation costs.
Finance Director (speaker 15) told the board the district is aiming to make the second interim as close as possible to the estimated actuals and acknowledged ongoing uncertainties—including negotiations and timing of restricted grants and state cash flows—that affect multiyear projections.
Layoff skip criteria: On Resolution 2025‑26/26A, the board unanimously adopted an amendment to the certificated layoff/Reduction‑in‑Force process to recognize bilingual credentials (BCLAD) and DLI teaching assignments when applying skip criteria. The amendment allows a certificated employee who holds the credential and serves in a DLI program to be retained over a more senior certificated employee who lacks that credential in the affected program.
Motions and outcomes: Both measures passed by unanimous voice votes; the student advisory vote on the budget certification was recorded as "Aye."
