The Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) unanimously approved a $1.3 billion budget for the 2023-2024 school year at their Wednesday, June 29 meeting, following previous discussions of impending budget deficits.
The district receives different local, federal and state grants and entitlements as well as allocations from the Local Control Funding Formula (LFCC)—the state funding of K-12 education.
Over the past three years, the LBUSD budget has also received significant one-time COVID-19 relief money. However, 2023-24 is the last year the district will receive these funds.
“We have done our best to stretch that money as far as we possibly can, looking at the various expiration dates of some of the funding and really wanting to sustain some of the programs that we rolled out over multiple years,” Chief Business and Financial Officer Yumi Takahashi said at the board’s June 7 meeting.
Every 1% of enrollment or attendance loss represents about $7-8 million less in state funding.
The district received $146.8 million in COVID-19 relief funds for the upcoming school year. Takahashi said the money will be used on one-time resources and that the district will assess which programs and investments made over the past years will survive without these funds.
Some of these programs include:
- Counseling services for students and families
- Bilingual education/realistic and relevant curriculum
- The hiring of mental health personnel like counselors, psychologists and social workers
- School climate support
The district plans and actions on how to spend the relief and LFCC funds are found in the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), which was also approved at Wednesday’s meeting.
A draft of the LCAP was presented to the board and released to the public in May and has been edited throughout the past few months to incorporate community feedback. The plan consists of 31 measures and 29 action items ranging from additional staffing to expanding programs like the wellness centers and literacy support.
State funds depend on declining enrollment numbers
Of the $1.3 billion LBUSD budget, $891.6 million are unrestricted funds, meaning the district can decide what to use them for—a $23 million increase from last year.
Most of the district’s unrestricted funds come from the LCFF, which is provided through base and supplemental and concentration grants.
The base LCFF $729.8 million grant is based on the district’s enrollment, whereas the $134.2 million in supplemental and concentration grants are based on unduplicated pupil percentage.
Unduplicated pupil percentage represents specific student populations such as emerging bilingual, economically disadvantaged, foster and homeless students.
Though the LCFF grants increased from last year, the board predicts that LBUSD’s declining enrollment numbers will result in less funds from the state. Every 1% of enrollment or attendance loss represents about $7-8 million less in state funding.
LBUSD enrollment has been steadily declining with a 2.5% enrollment loss for 2022-23. The district has an unduplicated pupil percentage of 64.98%, which has also been declining.
According to Executive Director of Fiscal Services Renee Arkus, as unrestricted revenue flattens over time due to declining enrollment and the cost of living adjustment, this may lead to deficit spending as the district’s expenditures will outpace its revenue.
To maintain staffing and programs the district would have to use money from its reserves, which Arkus said is at about $1 billion. Arkus said the district is projecting to have deficit spending as soon as the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years.
