After months of layoffs, school consolidations and program cuts, WCCUSD officials say the district’s finances are not as dire state — though students and teachers are still feeling the effects of the budget crisis.
WCCUSD’s budget projections are better than initially reported thanks, in part, to an infusion of cash from the state.
The district is also spending about $19.3 million less this school year than it initially planned, according to the district’s latest budget update known as the third interim report.
The savings this year are largely because it’s leaving positions unfilled and not fully implementing programs. The interim report shows that WCCUSD spent about $11 million less on salaries that originally budgeted. It also spent about $6.4 million less on employee benefits and $5.6 million less on books and supplies.
“Those are kind of those big swings you’re seeing at the end of the year that weren’t accounted for back in January. (It was) unknown that we would go five more months without filling or changing those plans,” WCCUSD’s interim budget director Jeff Carter said at Wednesday’s school board meeting. “Those are funds that will carry over (into the next year).”
WCCUSD multi-year projected budget outlook
- 2025-26 it can meet its required 3% General Fund reserve by transferring some money from Fund 17.
- 2026-27 it can meet its required 3% General Fund reserve with some budget reductions and an $8.5 million contribution from Fund 17.
- 2027-28 it may not meet its required 3% General Fund reserve; will make some fiscal reductions and transfer $2.9 million from Fund 17.
The savings offer a small temporary cushion because budget forecasts show that WCCUSD will still be operating at a deficit over the next three years. However, it won’t have to pull as much from its reserves as expected to meet its financial obligations.
WCCUSD initially planned to deplete one reserve fund (Fund 17) and pull $13 million annually from Fund 71 (a post employee benefits account). The updated forecast shows that it can stretch out Fund 17 over the next two years without having to pull any money from Fund 71.
The district still will need to make cuts in the next two years. Without extra dollars from the state, the third interim projections include $42.4 million in cuts to be made for the 2026-27 school year and $14.2 million in cuts for 2027-28 school year.
State is promising millions in additional funding for schools
The district’s outlook could improve even more because it does not yet include anticipated increases in state funding.
The third interim report looks at revenues and expenditures from Jan. 31-April 30 — so it doesn’t include dollars promised by the Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May budget revise, which promises millions in additional funding for schools statewide.
The state’s contribution for special education funding per student is increasing, bringing in an estimated $9 million to $10 million more to WCCUSD. The district also anticipates more than $22 million in additional state grant funds. The state is also expanding its community schools funding and qualifications — which means nine more schools will likely be getting more state dollars, according to Carter.
Carter said more details about how those dollars will offset the district’s ongoing operational deficit will be publicly shared next week, when the board will discuss the 2026-27 budget at its June 3 meeting.
However, the improved financial news comes on the heels of a number of painful budget decisions that have been made. The district has already cut about 300 positions and laid off several staff members. It also merged two middle schools and phased out nearly all of its K-eight schools, funneling the students back into traditional elementary and middle schools.
At the Wednesday board meeting, several community members spoke out about additional cuts, including staffing changes at Vista Virtual Academy and reducing Chromebook access to elementary school students for budgetary reasons.
Elementary students can’t take Chromebooks home anymore
The district’s student laptop fleet is aging out, and it does not have enough money to replace them. About a third of the Chromebooks need to be retired, so WCCUSD says elementary students can now only use the computers at school because they now only have one Chromebook for every four students instead of one for each.
Elementary students who take Chromebooks home have an annual breakage rate of 15% to 20%, according to the district’s technology team. Switching to a classroom-use model will save the district about $2 million.
“We have been maintaining so many older models that the cost of maintenance and repairs outweighs the original cost. So it’s very much like a car. When you drive it off the lot, it starts decreasing in price,” Chief Technology Officer Laurie Wong Roberts told the board. “Many of our Chromebooks have come back to us several times to be fixed. And the ones that are aging out, we have many that are aging out right now. They may work, and I’m doing little air quotes with work, but they are not really something that you want our students to be using.”
Board Trustee Leslie Reckler said she fully supports the new practice because she believes students need to reduce screen time for their overall wellbeing.
But Chris MacLean, a sixth-grade teacher at Dover Elementary School, said having computer access at home has helped his students improve their reading, public speaking and academic performance.
“It makes sense for kindergarteners and other lower graders like first, second, and third not to have computers to take home,” MacLean told the school board. “But sixth-graders are middle schoolers in other school districts, and these sixth-graders, they’re really responsible and they can use this technology effectively.”
He brought along four of his sixth-grade students to share how having a Chromebook at home helped them become better students.
“All of my students right here either have a fifth-grade or sixth-grade reading level when in the beginning of the school year they had third-grade reading levels,” he continued.
One of them, Renata Elizalde Vazquez, said Chromebook programs helped improve her fluency in English because she was able to continue recording herself reading aloud.
Another sixth-grader, Alondra Hernández, said Chromebooks gave her a way to ask her teacher for help from home instead of waiting until the next day to finish an assignment.
Sixth-grader Brianna Canjura Hernández said not having a computer at home will make students’ and teachers’ lives a lot harder.
“It will be so much harder for us to do any homework, reading, or exams,” Canjura Hernández told the board. “This is an unproductive plan … and if this plan actually goes on, probably people will start the boycott until you guys do something.”
Teachers also raised concerns around equity. For example, in Hercules, sixth-graders are grouped in a middle school, which means they’re not subject to the new limitations. But in Richmond, sixth-graders are part of their local elementary schools.
