Last year, San Diego Unified School District leaders tried to cut $124 million from their $1.4 billion operating budget.
Most of the money came from cuts to employees. They issued more than 1,500 layoff notices and did an early retirement incentive that attracted 1,100 people.
Despite the staffing cutbacks, the district plans to spend only $8.7 million less overall this year compared to last year. That’s because spending on employee benefits, retirement incentives and school supplies shot up by the millions.
On this week’s San Diego Explained, Voice of San Diego’s Ashly McGlone and NBC7’s Monica Dean look back at last year’s San Diego Unified budget shortfalls.