Novato Unified School District — Financial

Novato Unified's budget has tightened in stages over the 2025-26 school year. In November 2025, the board adopted $4.5 million in ongoing expenditure reductions for 2026-27, plus a 10% cut to discretionary budgets at every site and department and at least $1.5 million in one-time savings.

The cuts deepened in February 2026. The board approved reductions or eliminations reaching into classrooms and student support, including classroom teachers, 12.5 teacher-on-special-assignment roles, a half-time middle-school assistant principal, counselors, special education, and multilingual-learner support. Two weeks later, the board put an eight-year, $249-per-parcel tax on the June 2 ballot, projected to raise $4 million annually for instruction, teachers, counselors, mental health, arts, and school upkeep.

By June, the district was planning further out. The board adopted $6.5 million in ongoing reductions beginning in 2027-28, immediately paused hiring for vacant nonessential positions, and ordered cost-benefit reviews of specialized programs. Together, the alerts show the district layering immediate cutbacks, a voter ballot measure, and multi-year structural reductions to close its budget gap.