Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho Provides Clarity on District Finances at Budget Workshop (5-17-22)

Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho Provides Clarity on District Finances at Budget Workshop

Los Angeles, CA (May 17, 2022) – Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho and the Budget Services and Financial Planning Division provided board members and stakeholders with a comprehensive budget presentation at the Committee of the Whole meeting today that highlighted the District’s stark financial realities, as well as enrollment trends, which, in Los Angeles Unified, are declining faster than state averages.

“Today's intensive budget workshop helped provide an understanding of the District’s budget in its totality,” Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said. “It is absolutely imperative for us to understand the financial facts from A to Z as we have difficult, but important, conversations in order to plan for a future that is, frankly, currently unsustainable.

“Los Angeles Unified is facing an alarming convergence and acceleration of enrollment decline and the expiration of one-time state and federal dollars, as well as ongoing and increasing financial liabilities,” Superintendent Carvalho continued. “A number of factors have concealed the true financial crisis, such as the influx of state and federal funding to protect against the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. These one-time funds allowed the District to kick the can down the road, but the can is getting bigger and the road shorter.”

Superintendent Carvalho also cautioned the Board of Education that difficult conversations lie ahead.

“There is not an easy path toward financial stability, but these budget workshops and conversations on the 100-Day Plan and the Strategic Plan will help us get there,” Superintendent Carvalho said. “We are committed to making hard decisions that will ultimately protect and benefit our students and the highly effective workforce of Los Angeles Unified.”

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