SAN DIEGO — San Diego Unified is projected to hit a major budget gap for the 2025-2026 school year — but the district wants to find a way to avoid it.
If changes aren't made within the district, it's slated to have a $176 million budget downfall during the 2025-2026 school year.
By the 2026-2027 school year, the district is projected to face a $230 million budget gap.
San Diego Unified School District is hosting a workshop that's open to the public Monday afternoon to address the potential gap and what solutions might be available. The meeting is open to district staff, families, educational partners and community members. No vote or decisions will be made at the meeting.
According to the district, the budget shortfall for the next school year is due to declining enrollment, a deficit prior to COVID-19, a reduction in funding and increased student needs.
There's also been an annual — but standard — increase in the cost of doing business that the district calls unavoidable.
The district is focused on closing the gap in a way that minimizes the impact on students, or reductions said to be "furthest from the classroom."
These include:
- Centralized costs reduced to mandated services
- Maximizing all funding sources
- Attrition model and vacancy savings
- Increasing revenue
These steps are estimated to close the gap by roughly $100 million.
The district can increase its revenue with state funding — and students can help by showing up.
School districts receive more funding when students' attendance rates are higher. Poor attendance en masse leads to less funding from the state. As SD Unified faces a decline in enrollment, school districts throughout southern California — including SDUSD — are seeing a decline in average daily attendance.
SD Unified's ADA has declined 12.11% from the 2018-2019 school year to the 2022-2023 school year. Los Angeles Unified saw a 15.01% reduction in the same timespan.
SD Unified is the second largest school district in California and serves more than 121,000 students, superseded only by Los Angeles Unified.
SDUSD made efforts earlier this year to close a $94 million budget gap to make up for the end of COVID relief funds.
The meeting is set for Oct. 21 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the auditorium at Ballard Parent Center.
