San Diego County education officials last month placed the San Ysidro School District under fiscal supervision, calling the district “fiscal[ly] distress[ed]” and projecting it will be unable to meet its financial obligations starting next year.
In a Jan. 9 letter to the district, county officials said the district faces mounting deficits and is on track to be roughly $2.2 million in the red next year and more than double that amount the following year.
“Reserves are projected to be fully exhausted next year if budget reductions are not implemented,” the letter said.
The county appointed Tim Glover, a former Grossmont Union High School District superintendent who now serves as a Santee school board member, to serve as what officials called a “fiscal advisor” to help the district right its financial ship.
Glover, acting on behalf of the county superintendent of schools, will be empowered to recommend budget changes, veto spending decisions and, as a last resort, impose a budget on the district.
County officials said at a Jan. 15 school board meeting they did not intend to impose a budget and instead hoped to work with the district to develop a financial recovery plan.
“If we hold that [idea] close about trying to do the very best for our students, for our community and for all of our stakeholders, we’re going to be okay,” Glover said in brief remarks to board members at the meeting. “No district wants to be in this position.”
District spokesperson Cristina Inzunza confirmed on Wednesday morning that the district had been assigned a county financial advisor and said the district was preparing a statement to respond to media inquiries.
As of press time, Inzunza had not sent a statement.
The county’s fiscal distress designation is the latest blow to the troubled district. Last year, parents and a school board member called on Superintendent Gina Potter to resign after an instructional aide was arrested on charges of molesting a 4-year-old district student.
Parents said school officials failed to inform them of accusations against the aide and sought to cover up the alleged molestation – an accusation Potter and other board members denied.
Late last year, Potter abruptly went on medical leave with no stated return date. Potter is the district’s 10th superintendent in the past six years.
Also late last year, school board member Kenia Peraza disclosed she was wanted for arrest. Peraza faced an outstanding bench warrant related to a years-old drunk driving conviction. Peraza said she was taking steps to clear the warrant.
In an October budget presentation to board members, San Ysidro Chief Business Officer Marilyn Adrianzen said the district expected to spend $1.5 million more than it received in revenue this fiscal year. The district’s total budget is roughly $82.5 million.
At that rate of spending, Adrianzen said, the district would exhaust both its general fund and its economic uncertainty reserves starting next year. By the 2027-28 fiscal year, Adrianzen said, the district would need to find more than $7 million in cuts or new revenue to balance the books.
Adrianzen blamed a variety of factors for the district’s fiscal distress. Among them: Declining enrollment, expiration of one-time Covid-era funding, rising special education costs and costly legal settlements.
Board members latched onto the enrollment explanation. “The reality of it is, California is not affordable,” board member Martin Arias said at the Jan. 15 meeting. “People are moving out of the state and we do have an aging population here in San Ysidro.”
But parents and critics of the district said such explanations dodged district officials’ own responsibility for the looming insolvency.
“I hate to say it, but I blame it on our superintendent,” said Roxane Palestino, a district parent who frequently attends school board meetings and has been sharply critical of district decisions. “She’s the one who’s supposed to be managing everything and an expert in finance.”
Palestino pointed to raises given to teachers in recent years and questionable spending decisions, such as January vote to spend $68,000 to send 16 school employees to a March bilingual education conference in San Francisco, as reasons for the district’s fiscal problems.
“I don’t think they’re taking [the fiscal situation] seriously,” Palestino said.
Board members at the Jan. 15 meeting said they were committed to making difficult financial decisions.
“Now we have budget cuts and our budget isn’t in good shape,” said board president Irene Lopez. “We’re going to have to give up things we don’t want to give up…We’re not perfect but we’re going to work together.”