The Isaac School District Governing Board voted 'no' to closing two schools within the district Thursday, but that decision was overridden.
This comes after the school became financially insolvent in January. The schools were nearly forced to shut down when the State Board of Education ordered Isaac into receivership that same month.
Now, the governing board members and the receiver are both trying to figure out a way to dig the district out of over $25 million of debt.
Earlier this year, the members decided to lease building space and outsource some previously contracted positions, which included cafeteria workers and landscaping.
Thursday, the governing board made revisions to the fiscal year 2025 budget.
"Are we going to be over budget capacity?" said the appointed receiver Keith Kenney. "We’re doing everything we can to try to stay under, but likely we will be over. My expectation is we will be far under the 3.9 or 2.9 [million] that we were at last year."
When it came time to vote on the school closures, the interim superintendent delivered a statement.
"We have now been faced with a critical question; how do we function more effectively and within our financial means to preserve the future of our district," said Dr. Lily Mesa-Lema.
Four of the five board members ended up voting no, with the one yes vote coming from Harry Garewal.
But Kenney overrode the decision, meaning the schools will close.
"We have to choose brick-[and]-mortar or kids," said Garewal. "Had we left those schools running, just think about the financial drain on that."
An online academy will also close, but since it's not a brick-and-mortar, it was not a part of the vote.
"None of these changes are going to occur until the end of the school year," said Garewal.
These decisions come on the heels of a progress report of sorts. The receiver put together a 120-day report, which details how the budget situation got so bad at Isaac.
One of the major issues involved the mismanagement of COVID-19 relief money called ESSER grants. The receiver said Isaac overspent the federal grants and also failed to complete paperwork on time, losing out on millions of dollars.
The district, according to the report, had warning signs, including dwindling student enrollment and budget reserves. Instead of cutting back during the last four years, the report said district leaders actually increased spending for personnel and contracted services by nearly $20 million.
"I'm going to own my mistake," said Board President Patricia Jimenez. "I trusted."
Jimenez apologized at the meeting for the financial issues the district is dealing with.
"We're not financial experts, but we need to learn to ask those right questions," said Jimenez
The receiver expects to stop overspending the budget as early as next year, but it will need five to ten years to eliminate the total debt.
As for that report, the receiver is set to give a presentation to the State Board of Education on Monday.
ABC15 was told the decision meant boundary changes for schools. Our team will be reaching out to families and staff to see how Thursday's decision will impact them.
