Board approves revised budget that includes one-time retention supplements for employees

Mr. Fernandez presented the revised 2025–26 general fund and special revenue fund budgets to the finance committee, highlighting decreases in sales-tax estimates after recent collections and a lower MFP allocation tied to measured enrollment declines. Exhibits provided to the committee included revenue and expenditure detail plus special revenue fund budgets.

Staff also proposed a one-time retention supplement to be disbursed at the end of the school year: $2,200 for certificated employees and $1,500 for support employees. Officials said those payments are funded from previously assigned indirect-cost funds associated with federal ESSER allocations and other assigned fund-balance amounts the board had set aside. Qualifications for full payment include continuous employment through the end of the school year; partial-year hires would receive a prorated amount.

Board members asked about the degree of the sales-tax decline. Mr. Fernandez said the district had already reduced estimates by roughly a half-million dollars in the fall and was now projecting about another $1 million downward shift based on recent months’ collections; he said the district hopes collections stabilize. Committee discussion also noted insurance savings that helped the budget position.

The board moved by joint acclamation to adopt the revised budget, enabling the retention supplements to be issued; transcript records the approval as "Motion passes unanimously. 110." The presentation and motion were explicitly linked to the intent to fund the supplements and to issue separate checks in late May after the school year concludes.

What’s next: the adopted revised budget authorizes staff to implement the supplements and proceed with end-of-year payroll disbursement as described.