Conservative and cautious. Those are the words the top two officials in the Denair Unified School District used to describe the proposed 2025-26 budget. The $22.6 million spending plan discussed Thursday night by trustees represents a $1.8 million increase over the current year.

“While the district is in a better position than last year, financial pressures remain,” said Daisy Swearingen, Denair’s chief business officer. “For example, the district is facing a projected 30% increase in property and liability insurance premiums next year, with early estimates showing a 41% increase in liability and a 31% increase in property coverage. These pressures — along with uncertainty in state funding and declining enrollment trends statewide — make planning especially complex.”

Swearingen called next year’s budget proposal “cautious,” though she voiced hope that the potential restoration of previously reduced state funding, and along with new proposed funding, could help offset costs related to critical needs such as Chromebook refresh, curriculum updates, tutoring, mental health services, and professional development for teachers and staff.

Superintendent Terry Metzger agreed, saying, “We budget and spend conservatively.”

“Our budget is a reflection of the priorities of the board and our stakeholders,” she added.

As in the past, Swearingen told trustees that salaries and benefits make up the largest portion of expenditures, constituting approximately 89% of the district’s unrestricted budget and about 82% of the total general fund budget. 

Thursday night was the required public hearing for the proposed budget; no action was taken. That will happen June 12 when trustees are expected to vote on it. All school districts in the state must pass their budgets before the 2025-26 fiscal year begins July 1.

The board also conducted one more public hearing Thursday night, this one on the district’s Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), a three-year strategy that lays out how state, federal and other money will be used to serve students at the district’s four campuses. LCAPs are developed in conjunction with staff and input from the community gathered over multiple meetings.

Denair’s LCAP has three distinct goals, all with multiple actions to implement:

• Students will demonstrate skills that contribute to post-secondary success in the areas of technology, academics, social-emotional wellbeing, and life skills.
• By the end of the 2026-27 school year, an additional 20% of students will demonstrate, through local and state measures, authentic literacy (reading, writing and speaking) in all content areas, with an emphasis on math literacy (numeracy).
• 100% of Denair schools will be safe and positive school campuses, where all students can be successful.

“Our stakeholders told us to stay focused and steady,” Metzger said. “We have been making incremental growth toward our goals. There is good evidence that our actions are working. For example, we’ve been able to reduce chronic absenteeism and increase student achievement in English language arts and math through our multi-tiered systems of support.”

The superintendent also said voter approval last fall of Measure Z – a $32.4 million bond initiative — will allow the district to immediately upgrade its campus security environment.

“We’re now able to continue projects that make our campuses safer,” Metzger explained, pointing to security cameras, additional fencing and the redesign of the elementary campus and Denair Charter Academy next door to be single-point entry schools.

In other action Thursday, trustees:

• Trustees approved an agreement with the California School Employees Association (CSEA) on June 12, which includes a one-time payment equal to 4.5% of each employee’s annual base pay. That same one-time payment was also extended to unrepresented groups, including confidential, management, and administrative employees. The arrangement mirrors the agreement approved earlier this spring for certificated (teaching) staff.
• Listened as mental health clinician Lina Mateus reviewed data from 2024-25, highlighting strengths, areas of surprise or concern, success stories, and plans to address identified concerns for the upcoming year.
• Heard a report from the district’s principals about the iReady spring testing results.
• Approved a contract worth $107,289 with the Stanislaus County Office of Education for it to provide various services to the district, including teacher training and professional support, special education, health, technology and learning services, substitute teachers and graphics.