Financials
The LBUSD budget at a glance, followed by each area of financial attention — the health-benefits over-cap payments, the pool project, and other cost pressures. Every figure is drawn from one of 21 financial-topic events and the citations attached to them; expand any section to drill into the detail. Where a figure is an estimate by an advocacy source rather than an audited number, that's noted.
Budget at a glance
- Property tax & LCFF $83.37M · 88.7% 4% assumed growth; LBUSD is a basic-aid (community-funded) district
- State, local & federal revenue $10.63M · 11.3% Remainder of projected General Fund revenue
Figures presented at the May 12, 2026 budget study session by CBO Manoj Roychowdhury. Meeting summary →
Multi-year budget detail
Ending General Fund balance trajectory
Actuals through 2024-25, projected thereafter. The decline is driven largely by General Fund transfers for the high school pool (~$11M in 2025-26, another ~$4M planned in 2026-27) plus the $1.04M absorbed for the healthcare overpayment.
- End of 2024-25 actual$20.7M (23%)
- End of 2025-26 projected$8.76M (9.37%)
- End of 2026-27 projected$7.79M (8.64%)
Board reserve policy is 5%; the State minimum is 3%. Projected reserves remain above both through 2026-27.
Formal budget actions, 2025-26 cycle
The three statutorily-required board-approved budget actions across the 2025-26 fiscal cycle, each linking to its meeting summary and event entry.
- approved 5-0
- Revenues $89M (~$667K above projection)
- Expenditures $87.5M (~$876K below projection)
- Ending GF balance $25M (up from $23.5M)
- 13-year average annual surplus ~$3.9M
- Total district fund balance $58.7M
- approved 5-0 with positive certification
- Property taxes projected at $79.5M (up ~$623K)
- State revenue up $1.1M; local revenue up $394K
- Projected ending GF balance $12.8M
- Reserve for economic uncertainties $1.2M
- approved 5-0 with positive certification
- Revenues $93.3M (+$1.2M, largely property-tax recalculation at 5.8% growth)
- Expenditures $92.3M
- Reserve maintained at 5% (~$5.28M)
- $11M GF→Fund 40 interfund transfer approved 5-0 for pool
- $850K healthcare absorption confirmed in current-year budget
- $90K first AB 218 payment made (another ~$90K next year)
- Property/liability insurance premiums up 8-10%
Health-benefits over-cap payments
For four fiscal years the district paid more toward employee health-and-welfare benefits than the collective bargaining agreements capped. A September 2025 forensic audit by Michael Bishop & Associates quantified it. Two figures circulate — $1.77M (the gross over-cap total) and $1.04M (the net after prior-year under-payments and one bargained MOU credit). Both are correct; they answer different questions. The full year-by-year ledger, worked arithmetic, and "where the money went" walkthrough live on the dedicated controversy page: $1.77M vs $1.04M — same audit, two scopes →
On December 16, 2025 the board voted 5-0 to absorb the $1.04M cumulative excess from the General Fund, without seeking repayment from staff. The current-year slice of that absorption is approximately $850K for FY 2025-26 — a figure that circulates in some downstream coverage as the absorbed amount, but the on-record motion language is for the cumulative $1.04M. Methodology and citations live on the controversy page; the twenty-one-year benefits trend directly below provides the long-run SACS context.
21-year benefits trend (CDE SACS primary data)
The figures elsewhere on this page come from board presentations. For longer context, the chart below pulls LBUSD's General Fund (Fund 01) annual filings directly from the California Department of Education's SACS Unaudited Actuals files, fiscal years 2004-05 through 2024-25. The four years the Bishop & Associates audit identifies as over-payment years are highlighted in amber.
Total employee benefits (SACS object 3xxx — STRS, PERS, OASDI, H&W, Workers' Comp, retiree benefits) grew from $5.33M in 2004-05 to $20.18M in 2024-25. The narrower Health & Welfare slice (objects 3401-3402, what the audit is about) ran $2.33M → $5.53M across the same window.
Full table — 21 fiscal years
| FY | Salaries (1xxx+2xxx) | Benefits (3xxx) | H&W (3401-3402) | Total opex | Benefits / opex |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | $46.34M | $20.18M | $5.53M | $87.46M | 23.1% |
| 2023-24 | $43.39M | $19.30M | $5.27M | $81.80M | 23.6% |
| 2022-23 | $39.68M | $17.90M | $4.86M | $75.92M | 23.6% |
| 2021-22 | $38.01M | $15.71M | $4.95M | $69.38M | 22.6% |
| 2020-21 | $35.24M | $14.77M | $4.74M | $64.42M | 22.9% |
| 2019-20 | $32.20M | $14.64M | $4.57M | $60.45M | 24.2% |
| 2018-19 | $31.81M | $13.94M | $4.50M | $59.42M | 23.5% |
| 2017-18 | $31.09M | $12.39M | $4.40M | $56.31M | 22.0% |
| 2016-17 | $30.28M | $11.70M | $4.43M | $56.00M | 20.9% |
| 2015-16 | $28.65M | $12.57M | $4.48M | $55.33M | 22.7% |
| 2014-15 | $26.75M | $10.10M | $4.23M | $48.99M | 20.6% |
| 2013-14 | $25.51M | $8.38M | $4.23M | $43.90M | 19.1% |
| 2012-13 | $24.42M | $7.92M | $4.13M | $40.29M | 19.7% |
| 2011-12 | $24.41M | $9.20M | $4.46M | $41.15M | 22.4% |
| 2010-11 | $23.87M | $8.56M | $4.28M | $40.14M | 21.3% |
| 2009-10 | $23.85M | $7.63M | $3.97M | $39.02M | 19.6% |
| 2008-09 | $22.82M | $6.90M | $3.66M | $36.61M | 18.8% |
| 2007-08 | $21.17M | $6.25M | $3.25M | $34.91M | 17.9% |
| 2006-07 | $19.11M | $5.65M | $2.59M | $31.50M | 17.9% |
| 2005-06 | $17.61M | $5.50M | $2.50M | $29.65M | 18.5% |
| 2004-05 | $15.99M | $5.33M | $2.33M | $27.16M | 19.6% |
Source:
CDE SACS Unaudited Actuals (LBUSD, FY 2004-05–2024-25)
. CDS 30-66555-0000000, Fund 01 (General Fund), filtered to LBUSD
and grouped by SACS Object class. Smoke-check: the
2024-25 total opex of
$87.46M
matches the "$87.5M" expenditures figure approved by the LBUSD
board at the 2024-25 Unaudited Actuals adoption (Oct 9, 2025).
Reproducibility: scripts/cde-sacs-pull.sh
in this repo. Figures are nominal dollars and do not adjust for
inflation or enrollment changes.
Pool modernization
The LBHS pool modernization is the single biggest current capital draw on the General Fund. Committed contracts total roughly $20.99M against about $20.4M in assigned funding; the project total has been quoted between $21.79M and $25M depending on contingency and soft-cost assumptions. Funding it is the main reason the reserve trajectory above declines so sharply.
Funding stack & committed contracts
Assigned funding (~$20.4M)
- Fund 40 cash on hand$5.4M
- General Fund transfer, 2025-26approved 5-0 at Mar 12, 2026 meeting$11M
- General Fund transfer, 2026-27 planned$4M
Committed contracts (~$20.99M)
- Hard costs (LBHS Pool Modernization)approved 5-0 Jan 8, 2026$18,813,222
- Soft / construction servicesapproved Jan 8, 2026$2,176,305
Implied funding gap of ~$590K between commitments and assigned sources; the CBO has cited a wider $1.4M-$4.6M gap depending on property-tax revenue and Prop 2 state match assumptions. Sources: the Jan 8, 2026 and Mar 12, 2026 board meetings.
Other cost pressures (FY 2026-27)
Beyond the pool and the benefits absorption, the CBO flagged several rising costs at the May 12, 2026 budget study session — special education, legal spend, settlements, and contracts — each putting pressure on the General Fund.
Cost pressures called out at the study session
- Special education General Fund contribution. $7.17M (2022-23) → $10.09M (2025-26) → $10.54M projected (2026-27). SpEd revenue projected at $2.91M against $13.45M in expenditure.
- Legal costs. ~$250K (2022-23) → $1M+ projected (2025-26), carried at $1M for 2026-27. Hills attributed part of the increase to AB 218 claims and the Aliso property litigation; Malczewski cited board attorney spend and "payments for investigations of staff."
- Parent special-education settlements. $550K (2022-23) → $900K (2025-26).
- Fund 17 (Special Reserve for Non-Capital Outlay). Currently $23.9M; a 2005 board resolution set an aspirational target tied to the basic-aid differential between property tax and LCFF entitlement, which now stands at approximately $49M. No contributions since 2019-20.
- RRMA contribution proposed reduction. CBO proposed a one-year temporary suspension reducing the Routine Restricted Maintenance Account contribution from 4% to 3% (~$900K reduction), deferring district-office parking-lot resurfacing and painting. Requires a board action to suspend the policy.
- SRO contract. The City of Laguna Beach's proposal for school resource officers came in "significantly higher" — "like two or three times" the 2025-26 cost — and remains under negotiation.
Figures as presented by CBO Roychowdhury; they trace to the transcript-derived summary at /meetings/2026-05-12-study and the underlying recording. LCAP / budget public hearing was scheduled for May 14, 2026; board adoption for June 8, 2026; statutory deadline June 30, 2026.
Major dollar events
Individual transactions and disclosures that carry a specific dollar figure. Each links to its timeline event and citations.
Methodology & gaps
- Every figure on this page is sourced to an event on the timeline; click any number to read the event and its citations.
- The Bishop & Associates forensic audit (Sept 2025) is referenced by multiple sources but the full report is not currently mirrored as a public PDF; figures reproduced here trace to Sensible Laguna and Laguna Beach Independent coverage of the audit.
- The Team CIVX bond consulting agreement dollar amount has not been publicly disclosed at the time of this writing.
- The per-employee $50-$500 range is an estimate attributed to George Weiss, not an audited or board-published figure.
- The 2021-22 $350K bar reflects the amount explicitly authorized via signed MOUs and is presented as separate from the Bishop audit's $1.77M four-year total.
- The Budget at a glance and Other cost pressures figures come from the May 12, 2026 budget study session as presented by CBO Roychowdhury; all figures trace to the transcript-derived meeting summary and the underlying video recording. No multi-year budget PDF reconciliation has been performed against those figures yet.