By EdSource staff for EdSource
Originally published on Dec. 29, 2025
As Los Angeles Unified continues to grapple with a shrinking budget, it will look to budget cuts, reductions in staffing and school consolidations, The 74 reported.
The cuts will go into effect in August 2026, and school officials have already been informed of how much they will need to cut in order to help the district minimize an estimated $1.6 billion deficit for the 2027-28 academic year, according to The 74.
LAUSD plans to save by clawing back unused funds, reducing staff and cutting central office budgets. It also will cut money for campuses that support higher needs students, eliminate positions that haven’t been filled, consolidate campuses and reduce transportation for students.
The cuts come as the district continues to see a significant drop in enrollment — which was down last year to 408,083 following a high of 746,831 in 2002.
“We have fewer students each year, and in LAUSD that’s been the case for over two decades,” LAUSD Chief Financial Officer Saman Bravo-Karimi told The 74. “That has a profound impact on our funding levels. Also, we had the expiration of those one-time COVID relief funds that were very substantial.”
