The Oakland Unified School District says budget balancing efforts have reduced next year’s deficit from a previously projected $95 million to about $12.5 million.
The second largest school district in the Bay Area expects monthly deficit spending to fall from $7 million to $1.2 million, according to a news release citing a report to the Board of Education this past Wednesday.
“Those numbers show while the deficit is more manageable, it still exists, and the district still needs to find long-term solutions for a major portion of the problems,” the district said in the news release addressed to the “Oakland Unified Community.”
The district cautioned that more than one-third of its projected reductions from various budget balancing actions, or $39 million, were one-time savings. Reserves are projected to fall from $117.2 million for 2024-25 to $35.2 million in 2025-26.
The district continues to project a $70 million deficit for the current 2024-25 fiscal year in the unrestricted general fund checkbook, its primary operating fund. The deficit spending works out to about $7 million a month.
If deficit spending had continued at the $95 million level, “it would have meant the district would have run out of money sometime next fall,” according to the board report on Wednesday. “While the district still has a projected deficit, it is now much more manageable with the funds the district has on hand.”
The district’s goals include increasing daily attendance at all schools by 1 percentage point as compared to last year, and decreasing chronic absenteeism by 3 percentage points.
The post Oakland Unified says expected budget deficit now ‘more manageable’ after finding savings appeared first on Local News Matters.