TUSD approves $797 Million Budget Plan for 26-27 school year

[00:00:00]Sun Unified School District holding a board meeting tonight talking about several topics including their budget.

[00:00:05]Our JJ McKinney was there and he has more on the key takeaways.

[00:00:10]>> TUSD governing board says the new budget is meant to address a 2% decline in enrollment and a nearly $25 million deficit. They're working with nearly $800 million to help keep the district running next week. The new budget is going to increase funding on daily maintenance and operations by $22 million, set aside around $64 million for the desegregation budget and use over $2 million to fund free and reduced lunch programs. But that doesn't mean TUSD isn't making a few cuts to the budget. With over $6 million cut from admin cost, the district hopes this new budget will make up for the nearly $6 million loss in funding from a decline in student enrollment. But some community members including retired TUSD teacher Lillian Fox doesn't think this new budget will be enough to fix the deficit.

[00:00:55]>> We've cut, we've closed schools twice before. Every time we lose revenue and we also lose students. I don't know, it's not solving the problem. There's just total denial about the problem.

[00:01:06]>> However, some members of TUSD believe that this new budget will keep the district afloat. Once next year's budget is approved, the board will need to adopt the budget in a public meeting next month. JJ McKinney, KVOA 9.