He also asked for the finance department to present to the board more information on what the district budget would look like without the pandemic relief funds as part of the budget. However, Finance Committee Chair Director Abdul Abdi suggested board members read the district’s most recent pro forma to understand the significant financial challenges the district faces. There is currently no plan for how the district will address its budget gap once pandemic funds end.īoard members did not discuss the district’s finances during the meeting. The one-time funds must all be spent by September 30, 2024. It will use much of the remaining $150 million of those one-time funds during the current school year and next school year. The district has delayed statutory operating debt, which would trigger State involvement in district finances, by using $100 million in one-time federal pandemic relief grants to close its budget deficits in recent years. Indeed, as far back as 2017, the district’s annual pro forma memos, which provide a detailed overview of district finances, predict declining enrollment, expenditures in excess of revenue and a depletion of the district’s unassigned general fund balance. Without action, the Board would leave the district subject to State approval of district financial decisions.ĭirector Kim Ellison, the longest serving member of the current board, noted that the district has been telling the board for over five years that its operations are not financially sustainable. The district and Board have known that the district is not financially sustainable since at least 2017. El-Amin asked Cox to bring back options to the board for what could be done, and how it could be done, including information on financial impacts.ĭirectors Ira Jourdain and Adriana Cerrillo were absent from the meeting. The responses from board members covered a wide range, but with consensus that any plan must leave the district financially stable in the long-term, improve academics and address long-standing issues in the district around special education, racism and equitable access to high-quality schools. Chair Sharon El-Amin guided, and sometimes prodded, board members through a list of questions, soliciting their guidance for Interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox and her Cabinet about what exactly “school transformation” means. The school board continued its discussion of what it is calling “school transformation” in its May 23 Committee of the Whole meeting.
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