12,000 kids will leave LAUSD this year: District weighs options to fill looming financial hole
As LA Unified continues to lose 12,000 students every year, administrators will be notified of expected job losses, restrictions could be made on how to spend one-time funds coming from the state, and labor partners will be called on to be part of the solution.
Next year’s projected enrollment decline was reported Tuesday by Chief Financial Officer Scott Price during a budget update to the school board, which made no decisions on how to offset what equals a loss of about $130 million a year — roughly what the district receives in per-pupil funding for 12,000 students.
He reminded the board of the coming deficit in school year 2020-21, projected at $245 million, and that the board must decide how it will stay out of the red.
Board members discussed various options, including closing schools, and asked for examples of what other school districts are doing to offset deficits.
“The loss of 12,000 students, that’s the equivalent of closing 12 major high schools,” said board Vice President