San Diego Unified School District officials have been huddling with the school board all day, trying to find ways to balance the budget. The district is losing a huge chunk of state money and that's created a fiscal crisis of sorts. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintacolis has been following the day's events. She says high profile arts, music and sports programs are being spared the knife, but cuts are being made.
"In kindergarten to third grade those class sizes are going to go up from 20 to 24, same in 9th grade. So that was kind of the biggest bang for their buck, in terms of finding some savings," says Tintocalis. "They also made cuts to special education, they eliminated a project that Dr. Grier, the superintendent here, which was to create really small class size settings for the really younger kids. That is now off the table. Other little things, like they're increasing the cost of lunch for all kids," she says.
The district needs to trim millions from its spending blueprint in order for the books to balance.
