By Mary O’KEEFE

At a recent Glendale Unified School District meeting staff made a presentation that stated the Los Angeles County Office of Education approved the adopted budget but required the district board approve the Fiscal Stabilization Plan by Dec. 15. This plan outlines how the district will balance the budget while still ensuring it can deliver educational services. The plan is created, discussed and then voted on by the board of education. 

“The first interim, as of Oct. 31, includes actuals and budget projections for the current and two subsequent fiscal years,” stated a GUSD spokesperson. 

The Unrestricted General Fund reserves that were stated at the Oct. 31 meeting were: 2024-2025 required 3% reserves, which equals $13.8 million; the committed amount of that reserve is only $0.4 million. 2025-2026 required 3% reserves equaling $12 million, with a committed amount of $4.4 million and 2026-2027 required 3% reserve equaling $12.1 million with committed amount of $22. 4 million. The District is required to have 3% reserves for each fiscal year. 

“At the 2024-25 adoption budget in June 2024, the District estimated an $11M shortfall, which included the anticipated [GTA] negotiated settlement.  However, since the adoption budget there were increases in expenditures due to prior year closing activities, increases in contract services and other operational increases that were unknown at the adopted budget,” stated the spokesperson.

Those increases included special education contributions of $9 million, general liability insurance of $1 million, a workers comp cost increase of $0.2 million and health and welfare cost increases of $0.6 million. 

The one bright light in the budget is that student enrollment in GUSD has increased by 287 students in the 2024-2025 school year over the prior year. 

“In addition, student enrollment has increased by 144 students since 2024-2025 adoption budget,” stated the  spokesperson. 

In addition to students benefiting from attending school on a regular basis, including keeping up with assignments and curriculum, school districts get funding for each student who attends school. It has become a priority for the District to work on improving attendance. 

  “The District continues to place a high priority on student enrollment and average daily attendance by offering extensive professional development in this area and providing monthly information to each school. Site staffs are reaching out to families about the importance of student attendance and the connection to learning.  The governing board receives a report during each monthly board meeting with detailed information by school site and districtwide. GUSD staff has implemented a new process for collecting information that may qualify a student for additional supplemental and/or concentration grant funding,” according to the spokesperson. 

“Concentration grant funding is part of the [local control funding formula – LCFF] and provides additional funding for local educational agencies that have a high percentage of students who qualify.”

To be eligible, the District must have more than 55% of students (in a three-year average) that are classified as “Unduplicated Pupil Percentage” (UPP), including English learners, homeless, free/reduced meals and foster youth. Districts that qualify receive 65% of the LCFF base for the population of students above the 55% threshold, according to the spokesperson. 

GUSD’s UPP has been slightly below 55% for the last several years; however, the District concentrated on an educational outreach that has allowed more parental accessibility and ease of documentation to reach out to parents who had not previously filled out the necessary forms. 

“The Business Office will continue to monitor student enrollment average daily attendance. The governing board is updated each month with a presentation that shows month-over-month for each school site, and comparisons to each major reporting period,” according to the spokesperson.