Fresno Unified board grilled staff on spending, adopts $1.66 billion budget
The Fresno Unified School Board approved the district’s $1.66 billion budget for the 2026-27 school year by a vote of 6–1 on Wednesday, slashing hundreds of positions as it faced the steepest deficit in recent years.
The budget plan calls for the elimination of 383.8 full-time equivalent positions in the state’s third-largest school district. The biggest reductions include 44 positions in the Department of Prevention and Intervention, 41 teachers in early education, and 37 positions in school safety and security, the district’s budget document shows.
In just three years, the district — with spending levels that once exceeded the city of Fresno’s budget — now struggles with expenditures at two-thirds of its previous level.
In the 2023-24 school year, Fresno Unified’s budget peaked at $2.3 billion, but the exhaustion of one-time grants during the pandemic and years of shrinking enrollment have led to consecutive budget shortfalls, according to the district budget documents.
At Wednesday’s final meeting of the school year, some board members raised last-minute budget concerns. The board is scheduled to adopt the budget by the end of June.
Trustee Susan Wittrup questioned district officials over a $500,000 contract for a consultant to analyze the district’s special education program.
“I’m just perplexed because I don’t see things improving in our special ed department. It seems like we keep paying all this money to be reviewed, and it comes back, and we don’t always implement,” she said. “I just really hope that money is put to good use, and that we are actually going to implement the recommendations, and I hope we can put a stop to more and more reviews that cost more and more money.”
Trustee Keshia Thomas grilled the staff about a $4 million one-time transfer from the district’s General Fund to the Health Fund for the use of retirees’ benefits.
“We have six different contacts with six different bargaining units, and this piece of text is in one of them,” said Patrick Jensen, the district’s chief financial officer.
Jensen told the board that the district needs more consistency in the contractual bargaining language among all bargaining units, while Thomas called for accountability for the omission.
“That was in one of the contracts, and we missed it, and that’s our fault,” Jensen said. “Although I could argue this and take it to court to say that the other five agreements don’t have it, I do think it’s in the best interest of the district and our employees to hold for that, and I take full responsibility for that.”
Wittrup cast the lone dissenting vote, stating that she could not support the budget because it lacked accountability, transparency, and high-quality execution. She remained concerned about the quality of leadership and the district’s culture that too often rewards the wrong behaviors, she said.
“While the board sets policy and direction, adult inputs into the system are ultimately the responsibility of the superintendent. When those inputs are low quality, ineffective, poorly communicated, or compromised by favoritism and backroom deals that lead to the promotion of problem employees, student outcomes will never improve,” Wittrup said at the meeting.
Before Wednesday’s budget adoption, several dozen members from the Fresno Teachers Association, parents, and community members gave public comments, criticizing the district’s decision to reassign 26 vice principals without input from educators and the community.
School districts usually begin drafting their budgets after the governor releases his proposed state budget in January, especially identifying the positions facing cuts. State law requires school districts to notify impacted employees by March 15. Over the spring semester, the district’s finance department made feasible adjustments to the drafted budget based on the governor’s May revision and the school board’s guidance.
“I just want to share that at least for myself, I have confidence in your budget and yourself and your staff. I haven’t heard any of the accusations made today being brought forth earlier in the budget cycle, or in any of the programs we’ve been working on implementing our goals through, so it’s a little bit of a surprise,” said Trustee Claudia Cazares, before the board took votes on the budget.
