Board adopts LCAP and 2026–27 budget despite trustee objections over spending and capital-outlay

The Apple Valley Unified School District board voted to adopt the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) for 2026–27 and approved the district’s 2026–27 operating budget after a prolonged presentation and question-and-answer period about revenue and expenditures.

Assistant Superintendent Mr. Schulenberg presented the local indicators required by statute and said the district’s documentation and process met the five state indicators — basic conditions, implementation of standards, parent engagement, school climate, and broad course of study. He also described survey methods (the district used YouthTruth with add-on questions) and explained why the dashboard pulls some credential data from the 2023–24 reporting year because assignment monitoring is still being adjudicated for 2024–25.

Board members pressed staff on a string of large variances and draft errors. Staff acknowledged that an early draft of the Budget Overview for Parents had pulled data from the wrong table in the document-tracking system (DTS); the county-approved final LCAP and district website contained corrected figures. Staff also explained revenue changes behind the proposed 2026–27 total (LCFF adjustments, TK add-on and ADA shifts, and one-time grant timings) and reasons for budgeting differences in supplies, equipment and restricted funds such as the cafeteria special revenue fund.

Trustee Renee Longshore repeatedly questioned multi‑year capital outlays and a district debt figure she cited on the record. "This district has roughly $47 million in non-voter-approved debt," Longshore said during board comments, arguing that heavy capital spending has coincided with staff reductions and losses of benefits for classified employees. Longshore voted against the final budget.

District staff answered multiple technical budget questions, noting that some increases were due to step-and-column wage movement, salary-schedule compression, planned textbook adoptions and a technology device refresh. The administration also projected changes to federal and state revenues and said it budgets conservatively in certain special-revenue funds because of reimbursement timing.

After staff responses and trustee discussion, the board adopted the operating budget for 2026–27 on a roll-call vote (the transcript records a 4–1 outcome with Trustee Longshore opposed). The board also set a special meeting on Aug. 3 to hear time-sensitive pupil personnel matters and directed staff to pursue targeted budget training with School Services of California.

What happens next: staff will finalize the un-audited actuals (UAS) in September, post final LCAP materials in English and Spanish, and return interim financial reports to the board; a portion of trustees called for continued scrutiny of capital-outlay spending and considered—but did not approve at this meeting—commissioning a separate forensic audit.