Poway Unified School District trustees accepted a committee’s recommendation on Jan. 23 that three vacant district properties are not needed for school purposes but should not be sold or leased for longer than seven years.
Trustees in August voted to form the Real Property Advisory Committee, which was tasked with identifying potential uses for three vacant sites – in Santa Fe Valley, Torrey Highlands, and Black Mountain Ranch. The 10-member committee includes business people, real estate professionals and teachers.
Trustees said they wanted input that could help them decide whether to lease or sell district property to address budget challenges. Earlier, Marc Retish of Ameresco Asset Sustainability Group reported that an estimated $185 million in deferred maintenance is needed to maintain the district’s existing facilities.
The Real Property Advisory Committee held five meetings, including two public hearings, between Oct. 16 and Jan. 8.
Tyree Dorward, a school district attorney with the law firm Best, Best & Krieger, said it would be up to the trustees to decide how to use the properties, adding that selling or leasing the properties would have to be based on defining the sites as “surplus” properties.
Committee Chair Cindy Chille said a number of ideas for potential uses for the properties were shared with trustees, who unanimously approved the report at the Jan. 23 meeting.
According to the report, the Santa Fe Valley and Torrey Highlands sites are vacant parcels that do not serve students or the community or generate revenue for the district. The Black Mountain Ranch South site in Santaluz is occasionally used for equipment storage, and has two license agreements with San Diego Gas & Electric and Good Shepherds Regenerative Land Management, the report said.
The Torrey Highlands site costs the district about $125,000 per year in unused site assessment fees to the state’s Office of Public School Construction, the report said.
The committee took into consideration a potential enrollment decline of its current 34,408 students to an estimated 32,539 students by the 2031-32 school year. Other items reviewed included current and future residential development within the district, enrollment history and classroom use at the school sites, and state and local demographic projections through 2070.
On Dec. 4, the committee voted 6-4 to recommend that the three properties are not needed for school purposes. The also voted 9-0, with one abstaining, to recommend that these sites should not be sold at this time or leased for longer than seven years.
“The committee hears from some in the community, by public comment, and some on the Real Property Advisory Committee, that a sale of the property at this time would be short-sighted and would not solve the fiscal difficulties faced by the district,” the committee’s report states. “Furthermore, the committee received various suggestions for uses of the property that could benefit the community.”
Those uses could include building modern learning facilities or tech or trade-relating facilities; creating specialized learning centers such as a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) lab or arts facilities; establishing outdoor experiential learning centers; or providing teacher or staff housing, according to the report.
Trustee David Cheng suggested the committee continue to study potential uses of the properties for educational purposes that would not require additional funding, or other revenue-generating uses, such as a short-term lease.
“You have well-rounded skill sets on the committee and you could come back with more input,” Cheng said.
President Ginger Couvrette said extending the committee’s meetings would require discussion and approval by the trustees at a future board meeting.
Trustees also heard a budget update and announced they will be holding a budget workshop at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6 in the district office Community Room.
Interim Associate Superintendent Greg Magnuson gave a short update on the current and projected status of Poway Unified’s budget, which could change after Gov. Gavin Newsom revises the state budget in May.
One of the potential budget impacts could be a reduction in the cost of living adjustment (COLA) from 2.93% currently to an estimated 2.43% in 2025-26 based on the governor’s preliminary budget projections, Magnuson said. COLA is an increase in funding for schools from the state due to inflation and affects how much funding the state provides to the school district based on its student attendance numbers.
Another potential source of funding could be a new, one-time discretionary block grant to school districts of $1.8 billion, Magnuson said. If the governor’s proposed block grant is approved, Magnuson said it could boost Poway Unified’s income by $327 per student, or roughly $10 million to $11 million total.
However, the district also reported its unrestricted ending fund balance is projected to decline from $55.29 million in 2024-25, to $36.72 million in 2025-26, down to $18.03 million in 2026-27 and $734,954 in 2027-28. The projected reserve balance in 2027-28 would be below the required 2% minimum reserve balance for “positive certification,” Magnuson said.
A positive certification means the school district would meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year and two subsequent fiscal years.
Cheng said the projections essentially mean the school district would need to make $13 million in cutbacks in the 2025-26 budget and $18 million in reductions the following school year.
Trustee Heather Plotzke said the governor’s preliminary budget did not include emergency disaster relief funding. Under a relief package signed by Newsom on Jan. 23, California will spend $2.5 billion toward efforts such as evacuations, sheltering survivors and removing household hazardous waste. Lawmakers also approved $4 million for local governments to streamline approvals for rebuilding homes, and $1 million for school districts.
After the presentation, Couvrette said trustees can explore “creative ideas” for deficit reductions during the budget workshop.
