2025-26 Unaudited Actuals show district met 3% reserve requirement, ending prior deficit-spending trend

What happened

The Board reviewed the 2025-26 Unaudited Actuals on September 10, 2026, showing the district ended the year with a $12.85M total General Fund balance and, after using $8.1M in Sale-of-Property funds transferred into the Fund 17 Stabilization Fund, achieved a 3.02% unrestricted reserve—meeting the state-required 3% minimum. Without the Stabilization Fund, the unrestricted reserve would have been -0.01%. The unrestricted ending balance improved from a projected -$2.46M at Estimated Actuals to -$23,967 (essentially break-even) through $2.7M in expenditure cuts, use of one-time funds, and maximizing indirect cost recovery per FCMAT recommendations.

Why it matters to families

This is a major, consequential fiscal update following the district's December 2025 negative certification and March 2026 FCMAT high-risk rating: it confirms the district narrowly met its minimum reserve requirement for 2025-26 only through one-time Sale-of-Property funds and aggressive cuts, and staff explicitly warn that ongoing expenses still exceed ongoing revenues, meaning further budget actions will be needed to avoid renewed insolvency risk.

The evidence

"With the Fund 17 Stabilization Fund (Sale of Property funds) set aside the District achieved the required 3% Reserves"; "Unrestricted general fund reserves in Fund 010 are at -0.01% of total expenditures, but when considering the Stabilization Fund 17 set aside from Sale of Property funds, our total reserves are at 3.02%"; "Moving forward, the District will need to ensure that ongoing expenses are covered by ongoing revenues. PUSD's past practice of deficit spending with unrestricted funds cannot continue."

The source