The Coast News Group
Budget outlook for Oceanside schools has improved but enrollment decline remains an issue of concern. Courtesy photo
Budget outlook for Oceanside schools has improved but enrollment decline remains an issue of concern. Courtesy photo
CitiesNewsOceansideRegion

Oceanside Unified’s budget outlook improves, but enrollment issues loom

OCEANSIDE — Oceanside Unified School District’s latest budget report saw improvements in revenues and attendance numbers, however, a lot of uncertainty remains about the district’s financial future with declining enrollment.

Last December, district staff delivered the first interim budget report, which projected revenues at just $295 million with expenses of roughly $304 million. According to the third interim budget report presented at the May 10 school board meeting, revenues reached nearly $301 million while expenses remained about the same.

Associate Superintendent Andrea Norman explained those numbers come from combining both unrestricted and restricted funds, the latter of which are only able to be used once and for specific purposes conditional upon being awarded to the district. For example, COVID-relief funding falls under restrictive funds.

“We were able to meet our reserves this year using some of these one-time monies to help us through our structural deficit,” Norman said. “For example, paying expenses related to staffing and other major purchases.”

Attendance rates also improved for the school district since the second interim budget report presented earlier this year.

Public schools in California receive funding from the state based on the average daily attendance (ADA) of their students. Previously, the school was trending at about 87% attendance ratio earlier this year, but now the rate is 91.29%, which Norman said is mainly due to having fewer students under quarantine. Despite the positive increase, a 91.29% percentage is still less than the district’s usual 94% attendance ratio.

For the last three school years, the district has received funding based on the 94% ratio due to the pandemic, but that is expected to change to actual numbers next year.

“There is talk out there that we may change the ADA funding model to a three-year average which would be fantastic for Oceanside, but right now we have to use the assumptions that we can only use either prior year or current year,” Norman said.

The drop in ADA percentage accounts for a loss of nearly $21 million in funding for the school district.

“It’s a huge drop,” Norman said.

The drop outpaces the revenue coming in from COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) funding, which school districts receive from the state or federal government due to rising inflation. While there is talk about raising COLA funds, an increase could be countered by the state’s overall declining enrollment trend.

So far Oceanside Unified has experienced a 112-student drop in enrollment this year, which is far less than the original 410 students it has previously lost annually in years past.

Oceanside is not the only school district experiencing a decline in enrollment.

“It’s happening statewide,” Norman said.

Earlier this year it was reported that California public schools lost more than 110,000 students this year on top of last year’s 161,000 students. This marks the first year the total enrollment numbers have dropped below 6 million since the school year 1999-2000.

Trustee Eleanor Evans noted that the trend in declining enrollment is a nationwide issue, not just one in California’s public schools.

Fellow Trustee Eric Joyce said he wants the district to work on improving attendance rates as well as its enrollment through recruitment of new families to the area and those with young children who are nearly school age. He also noted having more events on each of the district’s campuses would help attract more families to enroll their children.

“I know as soon as parents get on to our campuses and see the amazing things that our teachers and staff are doing, it makes a huge difference,” Joyce said.