FRESNO, Calif. — The Fresno Teachers Association is questioning Fresno Unified’s transparency after the union says district budget documents show millions of dollars are still planned for student field trips, even as families have been told centralized funding is no longer available.
“We made a bombshell discovery in regards to the district and the statements that they’re telling the public and what is actually recorded in their official state documents called an LCAP,” Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla said. “This is a report of how they are spending the money to the state.”
The dispute centers on Fresno Unified’s 2026-27 Local Control and Accountability Plan, or LCAP, which outlines district priorities and planned spending.
In its LCAP guide, Fresno Unified lists about $2.4 million under Goal 2, Action 2.02 for “District-Funded Educational Enrichment Trips.”
The district’s budget overview also shows the planned amount for this item as $2,353,572 in Local Control Funding Formula, or LCFF, funds.
Bonilla says those documents conflict with what families were told about centralized funding for field trips.
“In the same week they’re telling folks that the money is not there for field trips, they are telling the state that they are going to utilize the money for field trips,” Bonilla said.
The union says the LCAP was submitted to county and state education officials and approved. Bonilla argues Fresno Unified is expected and is required to follow the spending plan it submitted.
“Their LCAP for the 26-27 school year, they tell the state of California that they have budgeted $2.35 million in order to invest in and implement field trips for our elementary students,” Bonilla said. “And yet, at the beginning of the school year, telling folks that we don’t have money in order to do that.”
Bonilla also disputes the district’s explanation that the funding change is connected to the end of pandemic relief money. He points to older Fresno Unified planning documents showing district-funded field trips existed before the COVID-19 pandemic, including a 2016-17 LCAP that budgeted $4.6 million for the program.
“The fact that they was telling the public one thing and telling the state something completely different,” Bonilla said. “That is absolutely mind boggling.”
FOX26 asked Fresno Unified, “FTA just told us that the district reported to the county and state last week, through its LCAP, that it has funding available for enrichment trips and budgeted $2.36 million for that purpose. Yet the district is telling families the complete opposite. Can the district explain this contradiction?”
The district has not responded at this time.
The Fresno Teachers Association is expected to meet with district leaders Friday and says it plans to raise the issue.