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Board members meet at the BUSD office building on 1250 Addison Street in West Berkeley. The district recently balanced its budget but foresees financial challenges ahead. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight<\/p>\nBoard members meet at the BUSD office building on 1250 Addison Street in West Berkeley. The district recently balanced its budget but foresees financial challenges ahead. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight<\/p>\n
Berkeley Unified slogged through another tough budget year, with officials in June approving a series of difficult cuts and budget-balancing measures totaling $11.2 million. But with a deficit of over $7 million projected across the 2027-28 and 2028-29 school years, their work is far from over.<\/p>\n
Berkeley Unified leaders said rising salary costs and the expiration of one\u2011time funds are fueling the bleak projections, with more reductions likely ahead to maintain a state-required 3% budget reserve. The district has also projected a $600,000 deficit in its Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP)<\/a> budget, which pays for services aimed at high\u2011need students.\u00a0<\/p>\n Contract negotiations earlier this year between the school district and Berkeley Federation of Teachers yielded a 3% salary increase for educators over two years, starting last year.\u00a0 About 700 non-classroom staff represented by the Berkeley Council of Classified Employees, which includes positions such as custodians and bus drivers, reached a separate agreement for 3% and 4% increases for last year and the coming year, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n How BUSD closed the gap for the 2026-27 school year<\/p>\n School districts in California must adopt balanced budgets for the upcoming year by June 30, and BUSD adopted theirs<\/a> on June 17. Because districts get most of their money from the state, they have 45 days to update their budgets if they need to adjust to the state\u2019s final budget<\/a>, which is released at the end of June.<\/p>\n The Superintendent\u2019s Budget Advisory Committee, which is composed of about 20 community members, parents, union leaders, and district staff, met from October through early spring to discuss revenue and cost-cutting proposals in four phases, with an objective of shaving $10.4 million. The last phase, presented at the May 30 board meeting, totaled $3.3 million in savings, putting BUSD over its target by $843,549. The district noted, however, that just over $6 million of these budgeting solutions are \u201cone-time in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n The budgeting phases focused broadly on eliminating vacant positions, staff layoffs, and consolidation of central office roles, before turning to non-personnel costs such as facility rentals and looking at new revenue streams like block grants and transportation fees to raise funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n Notably, the district eliminated all nine after\u2011school coordinator positions<\/a>, trimmed staffing at Berkeley High and Berkeley Tech, and explored shifting costs to the Berkeley Schools Excellence Program (BSEP) \u2014 a voter\u2011approved special tax \u2014 to close the multi\u2011year deficit<\/a> without destabilizing classrooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n The nine after-school coordinator positions were cut as part of a broader program restructuring, and some of those employees were reassigned into lower\u2011paid specialist roles that no longer carry supervisory duties. The board also reduced the ethnic studies teacher position and cut a climate literacy teacher role<\/a>, both responsible for their respective curricula and professional development throughout Berkeley Unified. The moves drew pushback from families and community members.<\/p>\n Deeper personnel cuts, including classroom teachers, were largely avoided: The district earlier this year issued around 330 notices of potential layoff in March to certified and classified staff, with all but 21 rescinded by the end of May.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other cost-saving strategies across all phases included:<\/p>\n