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Ventura Unified approves first interim budget after auditors27 clean opinion; staff warns of multi-year deficits
Summary
After a clean 2024-25 audit, the board approved the first interim budget. Staff presented enrollment declines, a drop in the unduplicated pupil percentage and multi-year projections that show reserves falling from ~9.6% toward the 3% minimum without additional reductions.
The Ventura Unified School District board unanimously approved the district27s first interim budget certification after auditors issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the 2024-25 financial statements.
Auditors from CliftonLarsonAllen told the board the district27s financial statements fairly present its finances and that the audit surfaced no material weaknesses. Auditor Gemma Tashinsky praised district staff responsiveness and noted the audit included a recent accounting standard expansion for compensated absences.
At a separate presentation the district27s chief business officer updated trustees on the first interim. Staff reported a certified enrollment of 14,051 and a funded ADA of 13,637.90; more consequentially the district27s unduplicated pupil percentage was certified at 58% (down from the 60% used in the adopted budget), a swing that reduces LCFF supplemental/concentration funding. Finance staff updated revenue and expenditure assumptions and showed multi-year projections that exhaust reserves over the next three years absent additional actions.
CBO staff explained projected reserve movement: 9.55% (current year) falling to 7.62% in 2026-27 and to 3.59% in 2027-28 under current assumptions. Board members and union speakers warned that possible staffing reductions would have material impacts in classrooms. VUEA President Sarah Mclofflin told the board, “Numbers, projections, and fiscal indicators do matter, but they do not exist in isolation,” urging transparent decision-making that prioritizes students.
Staff flagged key drivers: declining enrollment, a lower unduplicated pupil percentage (which can reduce supplemental funding by millions when compounded), increasing special-education costs that require general-fund contributions, and one-time federal and state funds that cannot be used for ongoing obligations. The CBO said the district must continue to reduce expenditures, maximize categorical funding and monitor staffing and attrition closely.
What happens next: The board certified the interim report (positive certification) and staff will return at second interim with updated projections; trustees asked for further scenario analysis and community communication about potential reductions.
