LAUSD is no stranger to big numbers. The district’s 2025–26 budget totals nearly $18.8 billion, described in press releases as historic, equitable and student-centered.
Yet inside the classrooms those billions are meant to support, the only thing that feels historic is how little of that money actually reaches students.
At Van Nuys High School, a campus that serves thousands, the math is hard to ignore. The school’s total site allocation for this year is about $1.8 million. By November, nearly 70% of it was already spent, mostly on salaries and benefits.
The $9,000 that remains covers everything else, between paper, classroom materials and the supplies teachers rely on to keep lessons running.
According to Assistant Principal Marc Strassner, budgets decrease based on student enrollment. When families leave California, state funding decreases, which means less money flows back to individual schools.
Enrollment decline has become the quiet crisis driving LAUSD’s financial instability. Each student who leaves the district takes a portion of state funding with them.
California’s school finance system ties dollars directly to attendance, so even small drops add up quickly.
The end of federal pandemic relief funding has only made the gap more severe. What’s left is a district that looks well-funded on paper, but struggles to sustain its schools in practice.
These effects are visible in the smallest details. Teachers have been told to limit printing; each department receives a fixed paper allotment for the semester.
The art and science departments, which depend on consumable materials that can’t be reused, are operating with less flexibility than ever. Funding for field trips and college visits have also been reduced.
Programs funded through the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program still exist, but the money can only be used outside regular hours, leaving schools unable to redirect it to where it’s most needed.
Strassner noted that positions have been eliminated throughout the district, and the school is still waiting to learn what next year’s budget allocations will look like.
That uncertainty has become routine.
Faculty meetings now include budget updates, while administrators are forced to spend time interpreting district formulas — time that should be spent discussing instruction.
And from an employment perspective, LAUSD officials insist there are no planned layoffs or school closures this year, but the district’s reassurance feels disconnected from what schools are experiencing daily.
The district highlights new investments in areas like arts programs, mental health and equity initiatives. But while those goals are important, they mean little when schools are struggling to cover basic needs.
For schools like Van Nuys High School, “equity” currently looks like art teachers stretching the last of their supplies and counselors trying to run college fairs with reduced funding.
This impact reveals itself in the disappearance of events that once defined student life — there are fewer performances, field trips and opportunities to experience learning beyond the classroom.
Teachers and staff find ways to adapt, but the reality that each adjustment comes with a cost remains clear.
If LAUSD wants to rebuild trust, it needs to move beyond polished press releases and start delivering budgets that actually function at the school level.
Money shouldn’t disappear behind layers of approval and district offices while teachers are left counting paper and students are left with less opportunities. A budget that claims to be historic should never leave schools scrambling for basics.
Schools like Van Nuys High School can live without flashy slogans and promises. What the school community needs is stability, the ability to plan an instructional year without wondering if supplies will run out.
Until that becomes possible, LAUSD’s $18 billion will remain an impressive figure that means very little to the people it’s supposed to serve.
This article originally appeared in the Fall 2025 print edition.
