An $88 million budget deficit is forcing the Fresno Unified School District to make difficult decisions about its future.<\/p>\n
An education expert says Fresno\u2019s situation is not unique, as districts across California face similar financial pressures.<\/p>\n
Fewer students are walking through classroom doors in Fresno Unified. That decline in enrollment is a major factor behind the district\u2019s financial challenges.<\/p>\n
Jon Fullerton with the USC Education Policy Hub says several trends are contributing to the drop, including declining birth rates, immigration policy shifts, and more families choosing not to enroll their children in public schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs enrollment declines, that means there are fewer students, which means you get fewer students\u2019 worth of funding as things move on,\u201d Fullerton said.<\/p>\n
According to Fresno Unified, nearly 1,000 fewer students enrolled for the 2025\u20132026 school year.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the district now projects an $88 million deficit, up from $77 million in its last report. That gap has grown by more than $10 million, driven in part by rising costs for special education services and transportation.<\/p>\n
District data shows special education enrollment has increased by about 1,500 students.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecial education can cost one to two times as much per student,\u201d Fullerton explained.<\/p>\n
He says the combination of rising costs and declining enrollment is at the heart of the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cStaffing is up in Fresno while enrollment is down,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re paid on the basis of enrollment, those two things going in opposite directions will create budget stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Statewide trends mirror what\u2019s happening locally. According to Governor Gavin Newsom\u2019s office, about 15 percent of students now qualify for special education services, up from 13 percent in the 2018\u20132019 school year.<\/p>\n
The governor\u2019s office is proposing more than $5 million in additional funding for students with disabilities in an effort to provide some relief.<\/p>\n
For now, Fresno Unified is taking steps to close the gap. The district is reducing programs, offering early retirement incentives, and reorganizing positions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really have to think about how to do this in a manner that does not hurt educational programming for kids, and do it in a thoughtful and rational way,\u201d Fullerton said.<\/p>\n
Fresno Unified says final layoff decisions are expected on May 14.<\/p>\n
The district will also hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss its 2026\u20132027 strategic budget development plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An $88 million budget deficit is forcing the Fresno Unified School District to make difficult decisions about its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-279389","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\/279389","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=279389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}