Denair Unified School District’s finances are stronger than they have been in many years, the district’s Board of Trustees learned during its regular monthly meeting on Thursday.

Chief Business Official Daisy Swearingen provided an in-depth look at the district’s first interim budget report, which provides a mid-year update to the current fiscal year and a look ahead to the next two fiscal years. The first interim report for 2025-26 shows the financial shape of the district as of Oct. 31, 2025, and will be filed with the county superintendent of schools in the coming days.

“The budget looks good,” said Swearingen. “In fact, it’s the best it has looked in a long time, to put it as plainly as possible.”

Swearingen reported an estimated ending cash balance (combined general fund and charter fund) of $5.3 million for 2025-26, and $5.4 million for 2026-27. She did caution, however, that the Legislative Analyst’s Office has reported statewide growth may be volatile, creating uncertainty in multi-year projections.

“For the first time in quite a while, I’m going to go home and go to sleep without worrying about our budget,” said board member Ray Prock Jr. “This is great news.”

In other business, trustees unanimously agreed to greenlight the purchase of two new IC Bus CE Series school buses to replace two aging models in its four-bus fleet.

The new 76-passenger diesel-fuel models will cost $216,647.44 each, for a total expenditure of just over $433,000. That will be funded through the district’s Home-to-School transportation allocation, with limited impact to the general fund.

The board also voted unanimously to declare the old buses – a 1992 Blue Bird and a 2009 Blue Bird – as surplus items so they can be sold or auctioned for fair market value. The two remaining buses in the current fleet have five or six years of life remaining, according to Mark Hodges, Director of Facilities, Construction, Maintenance, Operations, and Transportation.

Currently, the state of California has no mandate for districts to convert to electric buses by a specified date. The district did explore electric buses, Hodges noted, but the cost per unit was more than double the diesel option. Additionally, the infrastructure required to install charging stations would cost well over $1 million. 

The new buses are expected to provide better fuel economy than the outgoing buses, which will bring additional savings to the district.

Also on Thursday, Superintendent Terry Metzger, Ed.D., presented data from the California School Dashboard, covering such categories as chronic absenteeism, suspension rate, graduation rate, college and career readiness, and English-learner progress. The DHS graduation rate was a robust 98.7 percent, up 2.5 percent from the previous report. DHS also saw its number for college and career readiness increase by nearly 17 percent.

Other highlights from Thursday’s meeting included:

• Board member Billy Myers was elected DUSD Board of Trustees president for 2026, while Andrea Bennett was elected clerk of the board. Metzger will continue to serve as the secretary of the board.

• Outgoing board president Ray Prock Jr. was honored for his most recent term and for his decade of overall service on the governing body. “This is the third time you served as president during my time here a superintendent,” said Metzger. “You’ve proven to be a good thought partner, and you care deeply about leading the board in its work.”

• The trustees discussed their membership on district committees, with Myers and Bennett agreeing to serve on the District Advisory Committee, Jason De Muro and Prock on the Facilities Committee, and De Muro on the District English Learner Advisory Committee, with an additional post on the DELAC to be filled on a rotating basis.

• Renee Hall, special-education teacher and a 2001 graduate of Denair High School, was named the Certificated Employee of the Month.

• Maing Panerio, Campus Supervisor, was named the Classified Employee of the Month.  Panerio was unable to attend Thursday’s meeting due the birth of his granddaughter earlier in the day.

• Special education teacher Bonnie Lundquist, who began working at DUSD in September 1997, was recognized during the meeting as she is set to retire mid-term. “I’ve enjoyed my time here at Denair Unified, and I thank each and every one of you,” she said.

Staff updates were provided by ELOP and Special Programs Manager Zenaida Moreno, Director of Elementary Education and DECA Principal Crystal Sousa, DCA Principal Jamie Pecot, DMS Principal Gabriela Sarmiento, and DHS Principal Breanne Aguilar:

• Moreno: ELOP attendance had reached 103 students in the mornings and 220 students in the afternoons. Additionally, Cruizin Critters recently paid a visit to the district, and the Denair Fire Department is slated for a visit to reinforce standard safety practices.

• Sousa: Perfect attendance figures rose for the third consecutive month. After 268 students had perfect attendance in October, that figure rose to 340 in November and stands at 410 for December.

• Pecot: DCA hosted its Cash for College workshop, with eight families attending and filling out the critical FAFSA form for federal student aid.

• Sarmiento: Denair Middle School’s seventh- and eighth-grade girls basketball teams were competing for the conference championship on Thursday. Later in the evening, Sarmiento reported that both squads fell just short and finished in second place.

• Aguiar: Twenty-six girls and 22 boys are playing varsity and JV basketball, while 22 males are competing in varsity and JV basketball; 22 girls and 20 boys are playing varsity soccer, and 10 girls and 24 boys are competing in wrestling. Also, DHS will be hosting a youth basketball camp on Jan. 10, 2026, for students in grades 1-4 (9 to 11 a.m.) and 5-8 (11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.). Cost is $35 per athlete, and a camp T-shirt is included. Registration closes Dec. 17.