{"id":278523,"date":"2026-04-21T13:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T13:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/278523\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T13:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T13:25:10","slug":"fresno-unifieds-projected-budget-deficit-climbs-to-88m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/278523\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno Unified’s projected budget deficit climbs to $88M"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fresno Unified\u2019s projected budget deficit for the upcoming school year has grown to $88 million, the district said, a 49 percent increase from just February.<\/p>\n

In February, the district said its current deficit sat at $77 million and was projected to be $59 million for the 2026-27 school year.<\/p>\n

Fresno Unified cited low attendance and declining annual enrollment \u2014 which recently shrank by nearly 1,000 students<\/a> \u2014 as driving factors for the deficit, which occurs when expenses outpace funding.<\/p>\n

The district said the increase is due to needing more special education staff than anticipated and increased transportation costs.<\/p>\n

The district hasn\u2019t specified how it\u2019s going to address the gap. Service cuts and\/or announcing more potential layoffs are potential options to help reduce projected costs, but the need to hire more special education staff has ultimately contributed to the growing projected deficit.<\/p>\n

According to data from the California Department of Education, Fresno Unified\u2019s special education enrollment is currently 10,709 \u2014 nearly 1,500 more students compared to 2022-23.<\/p>\n

\"Fresno<\/p>\n

In February, Fresno Unified trustees began receiving a 113% pay increase<\/a> \u2014 approved on a 6-1 vote. Andy Levine, trustee for the Fresno High area, was the only no vote.<\/p>\n

That same month, Fresno Unified sent layoff notices<\/a> to 274 employees, though the district hasn\u2019t finalized the decision yet.<\/p>\n

Amid this growing projected deficit, Fresno Unified is also in the middle of a lawsuit brought by Don Arax<\/a> \u2014 a former football coach for Bullard High School. According to the lawsuit, Arax says Keshia Thomas, trustee for the Edison High region, accused him of using a racial slur against one of her sons during an interview.<\/p>\n

Arax, who denies the accusation, is suing Thomas and Fresno Unified for defamation. He filed his complaint in August 2022, and a jury trial has been set for Dec. 7, 2026.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 5:45 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Nick Fenley<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Nick Fenley is a reporter covering education, lawsuits, breaking news and more for The Fresno Bee. He\u2019s originally from the Imperial Valley and has been with The Bee since 2025.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresno Unified\u2019s projected budget deficit for the upcoming school year has grown to $88 million, the district said,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-278523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}