Mendocino County Office of Education approves first interim 2025–26 budget with positive certification

The Mendocino County Board of Education voted unanimously Dec. 8 to approve the 2025–26 first interim budget after a detailed presentation by Suzanne Steely, who said the county office’s beginning fund balance is $29.6 million and the ending fund balance is projected at $26.1 million.

Steely told trustees that projected revenues total $29.7 million and projected expenditures $33.2 million, producing a net decrease to fund balance of $3.5 million. The budget includes a $2.25 million interfund transfer from the general fund to the capital facilities building fund to cover a previously approved solar project. "Our beginning fund balance is $29,600,000," Steely said, and the projection reflects both carryover from multiyear grants and a surplus of actual revenues over expenditures from 2024–25.

Steely described drivers behind revenue and expense changes: a 2.3% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) applied to county operations and alternative education funding, adjustments to federal and state grant awards (notably an $85,000 increase to Title I Part D and a $680,000, three‑year Learning Communities School Success grant), and increased operating contracts and interagency services. On expenditures, she cited salary and benefit trends, vehicle-lease additions, and facility and equipment costs tied to a new certified nursing assistant program. "Expenses are more than revenues due to funding periods and carryover," she said.

After questions and brief discussion from trustees, the board accepted Steely’s recommendation and certified the first interim with a positive certification, meaning MCOE projects it will meet its financial obligations for the current year and the next two fiscal years. The board also directed staff to continue monitoring multi‑year grant carryover, vacancies that affect salary projections, and implementation costs related to the CNA program and the solar project.