Poway Unified School District has a $28 million shortfall it needs to address over the next two school years.
At Wednesday night’s school board meeting, $12.5 million in cuts were proposed, which, if approved, would go into effect for the 2024-25 school year, including cutting bus service and department budgets.
Poway Unified news
The cuts would be made by doing the following:
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- Freezing vacant management positions (primarily at the district office level)
- Implementing new health and welfare models for teachers and managers
- Reducing mileage stipends for managers
- Reducing departmental budgets
- Sweeping supplemental funds
- Managing Educationally Disadvantaged Youth funds centrally
- In accordance with available drivers, increase the number of bus routes serving students mandated to receive transportation services; reduce the number of bus routes serving students not mandated to receive this service; increase bus pass fees (affected families will receive a separate email from the Transportation Department)
- Reduce vacant psychologist positions (from 55 positions to 51 positions)
- Reduce Teacher on Special Assignment positions at the elementary school level
- Re-envision programs such as XPloration, Voyager, Connect Academy, Poway-to-Palomar Middle College, and Poway Homeschool/New Directions
- Reduce budget standards at school sites (discretionary/operational) by 20%
- Additionally, any non-essential facilities/capital projects that require general fund dollars will be postponed and/or delayed
In an email to Poway parents, Poway Interim Superintendent Greg Mizel said the school district has “maintained their commitment to keeping cuts as far away from the classroom as possible. While the road ahead will not be easy, I am confident that by continuing to work together we’ll get through this.”
The following school year, the district will target cutting an additional $15 million from its annual budget.
