{"id":467871,"date":"2026-09-18T11:48:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T11:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/467871\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T11:48:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T11:48:22","slug":"school-district-skirts-multimillion-dollar-deficit-inches-toward-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/467871\/","title":{"rendered":"School District Skirts Multimillion-Dollar Deficit, Inches Toward Another"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) has rounded out its most recent fiscal year, curbing a shortfall of $32.6 million.<\/p>\n

The 2025-26 fiscal year marks the third consecutive one in which the district faced an operating deficit. Property tax income, SCUSD\u2019s primary funding source, came in higher this year than in 2024, but it still fell short of the district\u2019s 40-year growth average. This year\u2019s property tax revenue sank below preliminary district projections by more than $200,000.<\/p>\n

SCUSD has historically maintained a 7.1% annual growth rate on property tax collections, according to data presented at Thursday\u2019s board of trustees meeting. The district plans its annual budget more conservatively, assuming a 5% growth rate \u2014 but this is still higher than what SCUSD brings in. Deputy Superintendent Mark Schiel told trustees high interest and mortgage rates in the region are partially to blame for the slowdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is probably keeping people from selling their homes and moving to something else,\u201d he said, \u201cand that keeps us from being able to see the reappraisal on those homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

SPONSORED<\/p>\n

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

In June, trustees authorized the transfer of nearly $31 million in rainy day funds to satisfy the bulk of the operating shortfall. The remaining balance was paid using interest earned on the district\u2019s OPEB account. The OPEB \u2014 Other Post Employee Benefits \u2014 pays the insurance for future district retirees. Schiel told the Voice the transfer of funds from OPEB will not affect access to retirees\u2019 insurance.<\/p>\n

SCUSD is now bracing for a projected deficit of $13 million for the current fiscal year, which started in July and runs through June. The district already cut $22 million in spending this spring, through the termination of more than 100 employees<\/a>, but its ongoing contract negotiations with faculty and employee labor unions \u2014 along with any unaccounted expenses \u2014\u00a0 could inflate the shortfall.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year was tough,\u201d Schiel said to the Voice. \u201cWe still have an operating deficit, and we have declining enrollment. Those are things that we\u2019re going to have to continue to look at.\u201d<\/p>\n

SPONSORED<\/p>\n

\"57th_SC_Parade_of_Champions_Image.\"\"57th_SC_Parade_of_Champions_Image.\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Chris Ramirez is a California Local News Fellow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Previous Santa Clara Unified School District News:
SCUSD to Give Teachers Additional Training on Sensitive Topics<\/a>
Santa Clara Unified Layoffs Pass Unanimously<\/a>
Santa Clara Unified: Heartbreaking Layoffs Move Forward<\/a>
NVHS Campus One Step Closer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) has rounded out its most recent fiscal year, curbing a shortfall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[6036,88,90,89,197,17385,2921,2922],"class_list":["post-467871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bay-area-news","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara","tag-santa-clara-unified-school-district","tag-santa-clara-weekly","tag-silicon-valley-voice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467871","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=467871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}