By SDCN Staff
San Diego, CA–As the San Diego Unified School District continues its work to finalize its balanced budget and present it to the Board of Education in June, the District is evaluating impacts following the May Revise presented Wednesday morning by Governor Gavin Newsom.
The governor’s revision calls for a reduction of the estimated Proposition 98 funding, a component of the way schools are funded, across the 3-year budget window of $4.6B compared to the January Budget proposal. Despite this downward revision of Proposition 98, the May Revision maintains core programs, funds the statutory cost-of-living adjustment, and includes funding for TK expansion and Expanded Learning. These investments are critical to support lower classroom ratios in TK and provide all families with access to high-quality after-school programs, the San Diego Unified School District stated in a news release.
“The one thing we need to do more analysis on is that the budget holds on to $1.3 billion in education funding ‘just in case’ their estimates are wrong, which means right now it’s not being used to support students,” said Superintendent (Interim) Dr. Fabi Bagula. “We will continue to advocate for state leaders to ensure all available education funding is used to invest in the success of our students.
The District will navigate every decision and minimize adverse impacts while providing opportunities socially, emotionally, and academically for the students to maximize their potential in the upcoming school year.
The District has already solved a $112M deficit through several strategies, including:
- Advocated the need for critical funding on behalf of students and families both in Sacramento and Washington D.C.
- Provided an early retirement incentive which was accepted by nearly 1,000 employees
- Secured a unanimous vote by the Board of Education on March 11 to positively certify the Second Interim Financial Report for the 2025-26 budget which included a strategy of no layoffs and an expected positive fund balance increase of about $19 million in the District’s General Fund Unrestricted resources.
- Pursued ways to increase revenue:
- Increased LCFF income survey completion.
- Focused efforts on more accurate attendance projections.
- Leveraged and expanded philanthropic outreach to expand funding opportunities.
The District will focus on eliminating any additional shortfall resulting from the May Revise and finalize a balanced budget that will be presented to the Board in June.
To learn more about San Diego Unified’s budget development process, click here.
