Our District · Budget Slider
The ~$1.50M gap.
Five real levers. No easy answers.
Reed Union's FY25-26 actuals came in far better than feared — just $0.49M drawn from reserves against the $1.83M budgeted. But the structural gap persists: projected drawdowns widen toward ~$1.5M a year, carrying reserves below the 27% policy floor by FY28-29 if trends hold. A board member's job is to understand these trade-offs and make them transparently, in public. Try the levers yourself.
~$1.5M
Structural Gap
Widening by FY28-29
37.6%
Reserve Level
FY25-26 actual
27%
Policy Floor
Board Policy 3105.1
FY28-29
Floor Breach
24.6% projected
Why does this matter? State law requires school districts to certify they can meet their financial obligations for the next three years. If RUSD can't, the county superintendent can intervene — overriding the board. The Budget Advisory Task Force is developing a 3-year plan. The community should understand what they're weighing.
Understand the Budget
How does a school district balance its budget?
Reed Union's FY25-26 actuals came in far better than feared — a $0.49M drawdown against the $1.83M the adopted budget projected. But the structural gap is ongoing: the district still projects drawing roughly $1.2M this year, widening to about $1.48M a year, carrying reserves from 37.6% toward the 27% policy floor — reaching 24.6% by FY28-29 if left unaddressed. These are the five real levers the board can pull. Try them yourself.
RUSD ended FY25-26 with reserves at 37.6% — above the 27% policy floor, and stronger than the 36.5% once projected because the year's actual drawdown was just $0.49M, not the $1.83M budgeted. But each year of structural drawdown erodes the cushion. By FY28-29, projections show reserves at 24.6% — below the 27% floor — if no structural changes are made.
Source: FY 2025-26 Unaudited Actuals (September 15, 2026); Multi-Year Financial Projection
RUSD's current parcel tax runs $724.08 per parcel and raises about $2.7M a year. A new or increased measure requires 2/3 voter approval and could raise $1–2M more annually. Lead time: ~18 months to place on the ballot and collect first revenues.
Source: FY 2025-26 funding sources (September 2026); CA Government Code §§50075–50079
The RUSD Foundation raised $1.75M in FY25-26 toward $2.75M in salary and benefit costs for arts, library, and enrichment programs — leaving the general fund to cover $998,717 (about 36%). Reducing that means scaling back programs families value most.
Source: FY 2025-26 Foundation Sponsored Program Expenditures (September 2026)
Capital maintenance projects can be deferred to future bond cycles. RUSD completed an updated facilities master plan in 2024. Deferral provides short-term budget relief but compounds future costs — deferred maintenance typically costs 3–5× more when eventually addressed.
Source: RUSD Facilities Master Plan 2024; FY26-27 Capital Budget
Staffing is the largest budget category. RUSD can manage reductions through natural attrition (retirements, voluntary departures) without layoffs — typically saving $80–150K per open position not backfilled. Current enrollment trends and student-teacher ratios constrain how far this lever can go.
Source: RUSD FY26-27 Budget for Adoption; staffing actuals
Want to see where the district's reserves stand right now — and where they're headed?
Track the District's Reserves →Sources: FY 2025-26 Unaudited Actuals (September 15, 2026); FY 2026-27 Adopted Budget; Multi-Year Financial Projection; Board Policy 3105.1. Lever amounts are illustrative — real budget decisions involve greater complexity and community input.
Context
What's happening at the district right now
What happened in FY25-26
FY25-26 closed with just $492,593 drawn from reserves — about a quarter of the $1.83M budgeted — and the board convened a Budget Advisory Task Force. Reserves ended the year at 37.6%, above the 27% floor.
Where we are now (FY26-27)
The FY26-27 budget projects a ~$1.2M drawdown, with reserves reaching 31.9% by year-end. The multi-year forecast shows reserves hitting 24.6% by FY28-29 — 2.4 points below the floor.
What Lina would do
Publish the Budget Advisory Task Force findings publicly, hold a community input session before any structural vote, and adopt a multi-year plan — not another single-year reserve draw-down.
Sources: FY 2025-26 Unaudited Actuals (September 15, 2026); FY 2026-27 Adopted Budget; Multi-Year Financial Projection; Board Policy 3105.1. Gap and lever amounts are illustrative — real budget decisions involve greater complexity and community input.