Elementary students across Fresno Unified may not be able to go on any field trips this year.
That’s because the district eliminated its funding for field trips, totaling a $2.2 million budget cut.
The big picture: A Fresno Unified spokesperson told The Sun last week that the district eliminated centrally funded TK-6 enrichment trips.
That includes the popular sixth-grade camps that thousands of students go to every year.
Individual school sites can fund field trips from their own budgets, but the district did not respond when asked if any school sites are doing so.
The budget cut decision affects roughly 40,000 students that are in Transitional Kindergarten through sixth grade.
Driving the news: Fresno Unified made the cuts as it dealt with a projected $55 million budget deficit last year.
The FTA responds: The Fresno Teachers Association is calling on people to sign a petition to urge the district to find a solution to restore field trip funding.
“Field trips are not extras for many of our students. They are opportunities to experience colleges, science, history, the arts, nature, and their own community in ways that cannot be replicated inside a classroom,” said FTA President Manuel Bonilla. “We believe the district has the resources to fix this. What we need now is the willingness to sit down and find a solution.”