California’s third-largest school district cut all of its funding for field trips for students in kindergarten through sixth grade this school year amid sweeping budget cuts.
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The Fresno Unified School District is saving $2.2 million by cutting the trips, according to AJ Kato, a spokesperson for the district. The district has 64 elementary schools that include kindergarten through sixth grade, plus three schools enrolling students from kindergarten through eighth grade, Kato said.
The cut field trips include visits to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Big Fresno Fair and a beloved sixth grade camp.
The cost-cutting measures come as the district reduced its budget deficit from $59 million to $23 million this school year with one-time cuts and additional state funding, Ed Source reported. According to the district’s June 3 proposed 2026-27 budget, some of the other cuts include laying off staff across multiple roles, including campus safety assistants, preschool teachers, paraeducators, counselors and custodians. The district is also grappling with declining enrollment while neighboring districts such as Clovis Unified School District are growing, according to EdSource.
Although Fresno Unified cut its “centrally funded TK-6 enrichment trips,” individual schools are able to use their own budgets for the trips, Kato said. If schools do go through with their own trips though, the district’s policy requires school officials to make sure all students are able to go “regardless of their financial situation,” she added.
District officials were not able to answer SFGATE’s additional questions, such as when parents and students were notified about the cuts, in time for publication.
It’s also unclear when the campuses were made aware of the district’s decision. On Sunday, the Fresno Teachers Association made a Facebook post looking to confirm the reports of the field trip cuts.
“What has your school been told?” the post read. “If you’re an FUSD educator, parent, or family member and have heard something about field trips or 6th Grade Camp, tell us what you’re hearing at your site.”
Parents, teachers and community members flooded the comment section, largely opposing the district’s decision.
“I’m pretty disgusted for all the students missing out on the few field trips they did get to go on,” one user wrote.
Some parents mentioned that school officials are still trying to figure out how to move forward with an annual camp for sixth graders through possible fundraising. Another commenter called the sixth grade camp “one of the best memories” for students in the district.
The teachers association did not respond to SFGATE’s request for comment.
According to YourCentralValley.com, besides the sixth grade camp, some of the other slashed field trips were visiting a local pumpkin patch, the Big Fresno Fair and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Manuel Bonilla, president of the teachers association, told the news outlet that he believes the teachers now have the responsibility of explaining the bad news to parents. And going forward, teachers may be overburdened with trying to raise funds for trips, he said.
“You’re going to have some school sites where they may be able to, and that’s going to be great because maybe they have access to those resources, and they have some school sites where maybe the community doesn’t have access to as many resources, and it’s not right for those students to not get the experiences that they would normally have,” Bonilla said.
He said eliminating the field trips is also disappointing because some students in the district would not otherwise be able to have those experiences.
The teachers association plans to host a virtual community meeting sometime soon about the field trip cuts, the news outlet reported.
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This article originally published at Drastic budget cuts lead Fresno to cancel all field trips for elementary students.