Chino Valley Unified Board of Education: Special Meeting (Budget Study Session), October 3, 2024

This special meeting was a budget study session: a presentation on the district's 2024/2025 finances followed by questions from the dais 1. The record for this page is the adopted minutes of this meeting; the figures come from the meeting recording. The minutes record no motion or vote on the presentation 2.

President Sonja Shaw called the meeting to order at 4:30 p.m. with Don Bridge, Andrew Cruz, Jon Monroe and Shaw present; James Na arrived at 4:40 p.m. Jon Monroe led the Pledge of Allegiance 3.

💵 The budget presentation

Superintendent Norm Enfield gave an overview of the session's objectives, and Sandra Chen, Associate Superintendent, Business Services, presented the 2024/2025 budget update. Its outline: the board's role and responsibility, the state economy and budget, the district's trends and patterns, the drivers of revenues and expenditures, multi-year projections, budget concerns and next steps 2. The minutes stop at that outline. The detail below is from the recording.

The state budget. The recording described a state budget problem of $46.8 billion and a K-12 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) cut to 1.07% for 2024/25 from a projected 3.94% 4; one passage of the captions gives the earlier figure as 3.49% 5. The state's enacted budget summary confirms the 1.07% COLA 6. With declining enrollment, the recording put the cost to the district's general fund at about $4.5 million for 2024/25 5. It also noted that the California School Boards Association had sued the state and the Department of Finance about a week earlier, alleging manipulation of Proposition 98 4 4. CSBA's newsletter dates that suit to Sept. 23, 2024 7.

Enrollment and attendance. Enrollment peaked at 33,785 students in 2004/05 8. The 2023/24 count, about 25,500 as captioned, was described as the lowest in at least 25 years 9, a loss of more than 8,000 students from the peak 9. Attendance matters because much state and federal money is calculated on it rather than on enrollment 9. It peaked at 97.4% in 2016/17 9 9, fell during the pandemic, and has recovered from 92% in 2021/22 to 94% last year, with 95% the hope for this year 10 10. Early 2024/25 data suggested enrollment had flattened instead of dropping by the roughly 500 students projected 10 10, although the district's demographer still projects declines of about 300 students a year for seven years 10.

Revenue and spending. Projected 2024/25 general fund revenue is about $394 million 11 against projected expenditures of about $453 million 12. The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) supplies 95% of unrestricted revenue 13. Because the formula follows attendance and enrollment, the 1.07% COLA works out to an effective negative 1.46% for Chino Valley 13 14. About 87% of unrestricted spending goes to salaries and benefits 15. Unrestricted funds also put about $38 million into special education and $18.5 million into routine restricted and deferred maintenance 15.

Among San Bernardino County's 33 districts 16, the presentation ranked Chino Valley 30th by its share of high-need ("unduplicated") students, 52% 16, and 30th in LCFF funding per student 16, at about $12,637 per unit of average daily attendance (ADA) 16. Funding at the rate of the higher-funded neighbors cited would mean about $2,500 more per ADA 16, or almost $60 million a year 17.

The outlook. The multi-year projection shows deficit spending in each of the next three years, attributed to the reduced COLA and to two years of what the presentation called unprecedented salary increases 18. Among the listed concerns, one-time federal funds from the COVID-19 era are sunsetting 19. The first interim financial report was due to the board on December 19 20.

🧊 Why positions were frozen

The recording explains the district's position freezes. If the 2025/26 COLA came in near zero 21, the shortfall could reach about $9 million over two years, and the recommendation was to freeze positions now rather than face that later 21. No one was let go: positions were held open when people promoted 12, critical vacancies such as school custodians were filled quickly, and some district-office clerical vacancies were filled more slowly 12. The recording recalled the Great Recession, when three schools closed and the district ran three rounds of layoffs 22, the first of more than 283 teachers, along with furlough days and $33 million in cuts 22.

💬 Board questions

The minutes do not record the discussion. In the recording, questions and comments from the dais covered these themes (not in speaking order):

• COVID relief money. Asked whether one-time COVID funds were paying employees, staff said those restricted dollars have paid salaries in many categories and are ending 1.
• Attracting students. Staff pointed to dual-language programs added at two schools and a growing program at Chino High that recruits from outside the district 23, and to a small rise in kindergarten enrollment 23.
• Fewer children. One comment relayed a developer's survey in the still-developing Preserve area that found, as captioned, that only 48% have children 24.

Near the end, staff said they felt more comfortable than in May, with the governor's January proposal to bring six months of actual tax collections 25. Staff also cautioned that the board's stated priority of competitive salaries 25 carries trade-offs: "you can afford anything it's just what are you willing to give up" 25. Matching what the district had done on raises over the last couple of years would mean decisions about where to move as a district 26.

🎙️ Public comment

The minutes list one person, Richard Wales, as addressing the board on agenda items 27. They do not record what was said, so this page does not describe it.

🔚 Adjournment and what came next

President Shaw adjourned the meeting at 5:53 p.m. The minutes are signed by Sonja Shaw as president and Andrew Cruz as clerk 28.

Board Policy 3460 (last revised June 27, 2013) requires two interim financial reports a year, each certified as positive, qualified or negative 29. On December 19, 2024, the board approved the 2024/2025 First Interim Financial Report with a positive certification for the current and two following fiscal years 30.

📰 Outside coverage

No news coverage of this study session was found. The only write-ups found were AI-generated meeting digests, which this page does not cite.