By Eliza PARTIKA

 The Glendale Unified School District board of education approved the actual expenditures from the 2024-25 school year and the resulting changes to the budget approved in June. 

The education code requires the budget to enumerate all revenues and expenditures for the preceding fiscal year. This report must also include any resulting corrections to the 2025-26 adopted budget. The ending balance as of December 2024 was approximately $48 million, an increase from what was expected. 

The District plans to use the additional unrestricted funds for adoption of new textbooks and technology renovations. The board approved to move forward with this report and to adjust the 2025-26 budget accordingly. 

“[This is the] reason districts have multi-year projections and the requirement is to keep districts solvent,” said William Young, assistant superintendent of Business Services. 

Representatives from the Government Financial Services Joint Powers Authority and Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3) presented their services to the board and discussed the survey process needed to potentially include bonds and parcel taxes on the ballot for the gubernatorial elections in June 2026 or the presidential elections in November 2028. Bonds and parcel taxes are both forms of local funding through property taxes, voted on and approved by the community. 

Bonds and parcel taxes are used by school districts to fund facilities’ improvements and educational programs in schools. The board ultimately approved the partnership, and at the next meeting will discuss whether to move forward with bonds or parcel taxes or both. Funding for these partnerships comes from the general fund. 

The board also approved a grant funding Clark Magnet High School’s robotics program. The grant, provided by the Gene Haas Foundation, started providing grants to schools supporting the expansion of manufacturing trades. This grant would support three highly respected Clark CTE (Career and Technical Education)

pathways: manufacturing, engineering and robotics. 

Through these pathways, students have the opportunity to earn  certifications that make them stronger candidates for elite colleges and universities within their chosen field and simultaneously create opportunities for internships or paid positions 

at local manufacturing facilities earning $25-$40 directly after high school and during the summer. The approved grant provided Clark Magnet with $250,000 to $500,000 in funding for the Clark engineering, manufacturing and robotics programs. 

Policies relating to student opt-outs continue to be updated according to state law. If a student is opted out of an educational activity, an activity of equal educational value must be provided and prohibits disciplinary action, academic penalty or other sanctions should a student be opted out. Dr. Kelly King, assistant superintendent of Educational Services, said information on opt-outs are included in the parent handbooks sent out at all school sites, and administrators have been trained on how to collaborate with educators and parents. 

“I want to emphasize to everyone that they belong. We need to remember to encourage everyone who’s curious, to encourage everyone to come and look at these books. They’re available,” said board member Kathleen Cross. 

In the Annual Arts in Schools Report, board members heard how arts funding from Prop 28 was used across the District and brainstormed plans for the 2025-26 year. Last school year, 34 schools received Prop 28 funding to expand access to visual and performing arts education. The District hired four new itinerant arts teachers, credentialed professionals who create arts curriculum and help with logistics, including teaching arts skills aligned with state standards, supervising large groups such as bands and ensembles, preparing materials, supporting exhibitions, assisting with classroom management and accompanying students on arts-related field trips. 

This year, along with expanding and improving arts facilities, the board voted to prioritize partnerships with local arts initiatives, like the partnership with the Antaeus Theater group started last year. 

Elementary school teachers and leaders created coaching tools to help schools integrate the arts into their curriculum. A database to help with this arts integration was created to assist teachers in funding resources and collaborate across schools. These successes and the student showcases demonstrated the impact of the arts on students, said presenter Dr. Emil Ahangarzadeh, coordinator III, visual and performing arts at GUSD. 

“The idea is to work with our students so they go one step beyond the creation process by imagining what the arts can be. It requires our students to respond to others’ art, to make connections between art and everything else,” Ahangarzadeh said. 

At its next meeting the board will continue discussing changes to its ethics policy and health care policies.