September 6, 2024
Dear SRVUSD Staff Members and Community,
Since my arrival, I have been working very closely with our financial staff to ensure we align our fiscal resources to the outcomes we desire for our students. Our financial stability is crucial to supporting all students, recruiting and retaining excellent staff, and providing our students with high quality educational experiences. Additionally, it remains a focal point of our Strategic Directions to be a good steward of public resources.
I will always do my best to provide our students, staff, and community with timely, accurate, and transparent communications. Today, I am writing to inform you of a new budget development that will have an impact on our current budget year and the already shared need to reduce at least 16.5 million dollars from the 2025-2026 budget. Budgetary information can sometimes be hard to convey through written statements, but I’ll do my best to outline our recent developments clearly and concisely.
Budget Year 2023-2024:
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In the last few days, our fiscal team finished the process of closing our books for the 23-24 fiscal year. The process identified that our expenditures exceeded our targets by roughly 2%. While this is a narrow percentage, it does mean that we expended 7.25 million dollars more than estimated.
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We are not negative in our finances as we have budget adjustments that can be made to address this issue. Through sweeping some one-time dollars that were otherwise designated to help offset future declines in revenue, and allocating other available funds from within our budget, we are able to temporarily resolve this issue for the 23-24 school year.
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These actions result in our fund balance for the 23-24 fiscal year being aligned with our budget estimates.
Budget Year 2024-2025:
- The developments outlined above will impact our 24-25 fiscal picture, as we must reduce current year expenditures to align with our available resources.
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These required reductions, including a revised reduction target, will be discussed during our upcoming Board of Education meetings in October through December, with a focus on protecting student programs and services.
Budget Year 2025-2026:
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As you may know, SRVUSD already projected a reduction of at least 16.5 million dollars for the 2025-2026 budget. The actions needed in 23-24 and 24-25, as outlined above, will affect the 25-26 budget as well. As you may anticipate, our already shared projected reductions of at least 16.5 million will also need to be increased. As noted above, more information about those changes and implications will be shared in the coming weeks and months.
In summary, SRVUSD has made some important adjustments to address our immediate financial conditions. We will take the additional steps needed to ensure our financial stability now and into the future. I will also implement additional internal systems so similar outcomes are not repeated.
Like many districts across the state, we face challenging fiscal conditions, these new developments intensify those needs and our timeline for action. Nonetheless, these issues must be addressed through creative and thoughtful decision-making while doing our very best to maintain the highest quality instructional programs possible for all students.
At our October Board of Education meeting, staff will provide the Board of Education with an update on revised budget projections for the 24-25 and 25-26 school years. This information will also inform our Budget Advisory Committee work, which is already underway.
As we approach our next steps in resolving these fiscal challenges, I will keep our entire community updated, and provide opportunities for input to add your voice to this important topic. Like prior difficult fiscal times in SRVUSD over recent decades, we will emerge from these moments with a refined action plan for how to best align our resources with our goals for students. We will accomplish this through continued collaboration, input and partnership with our staff, students, and community. Thank you for your support as we work to ensure the immediate and long-term fiscal stability of SRVUSD.
Sincerely,
CJ Cammack
Superintendent
San Ramon Valley Unified School District
