District-wide enrollment is down by 100 students compared to last year, exacerbating the already growing budget deficit, according to administrators for the Coronado Unified School District. At Thursday’s school board meeting, trustees approved a $3.4 million loan to close the gap.
According to Donnie Salamanca, Deputy District Superintendent, the district had budgeted for an enrollment of 2750 students. But only 2678 actually enrolled, compared to last year, when enrollment was at 2778.
Enrollment is a major driver of financing and funding for the school district, and the 4% drop accounts for about $1.2 million in funding, according to Salamanca.
“It’s a significant hit to our budget,” said Salamanca.
The upside is class sizes. At Village Elementary, for example, the student to teacher ratio is 24 to 1.
“While this is great for students, its not the best for the budget,” said Salamanca.
As things stand now, the district is looking at about $1.6 million in budget solutions in order to meet basic requirements for solvency by San Diego County Office of Education.
After a short presentation, the board voted 5-0 to approve a $3.4 million lease purchase financing option, which is essentially a loan.
According to Salamanca, the loan will “ease the pain” of the budget crisis and help CUSD close it’s deficit until it reaches Basic Aid. He said if CUSD didn’t take out a loan, the lack of funding would result in cuts to staff and programs.
“I hate to put it this way, but we’re putting it on a credit card,” said Salamanca. “We’re borrowing money to make ends meet and reduce the need to identify further reductions.”
The district is expected to reach Basic Aid—whereby CUSD will be fully-funded by local property taxes—in the 2027-2028 school year. This will likely provide an anticipated increase of about $8 to $10 million in annual revenue.
But Salamanca added that, even with a loan, staff reductions would likely happen in line with declining enrollment.
Salamanca also shared information about a redistribution of administrator duties after resignations from Shane Schmeichel, Director of Special Programs, and Christine Jensen, Director of Adult Education. He said the district made the choice to, instead of rehiring, redistribute the duties—most of them Schmeichel’s—across seven different departments.
For example, Karin Mellina, CHS Principal, will oversee administrative responsibilities for Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA). The Learning Department will take over Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) and grant writing, while Student Services will take over WeTip.
Maria Simon, the district’s public information officer, will take over six duties, including collaborative partnerships, community outreach, live scan/fingerprinting, the Coronado Schools Foundation Liaison, the relaunch of the Everybody a Reader program, as well as research and support grant applications.
After some discussion, the board voted to approve a position and salary change for Simon, increasing her position to a full-time, 12 month, 261-day position with an annual salary of $112,504. The position also includes evening and weekend events.
Earlier in the evening, Jennifer Landry, from the Association of Coronado Teachers, expressed concern that Simon would be making more than what two-thirds of the district’s teachers earn, many who have worked in the district for decades. She also questioned the pay increase, which started at $40k a year back in 2021 as a part time position.
But Superintendent Karl Mueller, along with Trustee Fitz Lee, said that the position is crucial to CUSD. Mueller called Simon the district’s “Swiss Army knife.”
“Information needs to be controlled and provided, not just when something is wrong,” said Mueller. “Our PIO has done an amazing job connecting our school district with members of this community.”
Board President Alexia Palacios-Peters acknowledged that Simon took over many of the roles that Schmeichel previously filled, and that the district was saving money by bumping up her salary instead of rehiring a new Director of Special Programs. Administrators also shared that, compared to teachers who work a 186 day contract, the PIO position is a 261 day contract.
The meeting marks the first for Haissam Kouli, the new Associated Student Body President. He shared that the beginning-of-the-year, on-campus lunchtime activities for freshmen at CHS were extremely successful, creating lots of connections. Kouli said that he was excited to represent the diverse student voice and that he “actively seeks to find redeeming qualities of every person and their ideas.”
Also in the meeting, Mueller shared that the district was working with recommendations from a school safety audit to distribute two-way radios for school employees, as well as fix a gate at Cutler Field which had previously represented a vulnerability.
The next meeting takes place on Thursday, September 11 at 4pm at District Offices.
Editors note: the article was amended to include reference to the teacher contracts which are 186 days.
