Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District Board of Trustees approved the first interim budget of this school year during a special meeting last Thursday.

The report offers current and future projections on the district’s enrollment, general fund revenue and expenditures and multi-year projections as of Oct. 31, 2025. An adopted budget was previously presented at a June 9 special meeting.

Since the 2023-24 school year, enrollment has gone down and could continue to decrease in the next couple of years, according to an analysis. Cynthia Tapia, the district’s chief business official, said the projections for this year and the next couple of years were based off of trends Superintendent Justin Pruett and her saw within the first three months of the school year. 

After the district recorded an enrollment of 3,189 of students for the 2022-23 school year, it decreased to 3,161 the following year and 3,085 last year. NCLUSD is projected to have 2,981 students for this year and it could decrease to 2,921 next year and 2,884 in 2027-28.

The interim general fund revenue could see an increase of $1.55 million at $56.4 million based on projections. Amongst the biggest contributors is state revenue, with a projected revenue of nearly $7.4 million, an almost $2 million dollar increase. According to the meeting’s PowerPoint presentation, the increase is attributed to the district receiving a Student Support and Professional Development Grant, Children and Youth Behavioral Initiative Grant and funding from Proposition 28. The district’s local and federal revenue could also see projected increases.

While the general fund revenue could increase, the district’s local control funding may decrease to $42.3 million, a $458,648 reduction. This was attributed to a decrease in unduplicated pupil count funding.

Additionally, NCLUSD is expected to have an increase in general fund expenditures as it’s projected to be at $61.3 million. Certificated and Classified management salaries and its employee benefits were among the contributors with a combined projected increase of $1.12 million. Both managements received a salary schedule change after a board of trustees approval last month. 

As the district could see increases in revenue, its deficit could see a substantial decrease in the next two years. With NCLUSD dealing with a deficit of nearly $5 million, it could decrease as much as $1.53 million in the 2027-28 school year.

The general fund balance is expected to go down from $14.5 million this year to $6.97 million in 2027-28. After expenditures, the district could have an end balance of $5.4 million in two years. The unrestricted balance would be $1.8 million with a 3.20% reserve used for economic uncertainty.

Tapia said the district is on track to meet its financial obligations for the current and next two fiscal years.

Board President Don Cabral said decreasing the deficit should be a priority moving forward. He recommended the district to plan for $2.5-3 million in cuts.

“Unfortunately those cuts have to be made. We can’t end up in [2027] with $1.8 [million] at 3% reserve,” he said.