Conservative budget unveiled to Denair Unified trustees
06/12/2025 04:17 PM
Conservative and cautious. Those are the words the top two officials in the Denair Unified School District used to describe the proposed 2025-26 budget. The $22.6 million spending plan discussed Thursday night by trustees represents a $1.8 million increase over the current year.
“While the district is in a better position than last year, financial pressures remain,” said Daisy Swearingen, Denair’s chief business officer. “For example, the district is facing a projected 30% increase in property and liability insurance premiums next year, with early estimates showing a 41% increase in liability and a 31% increase in property coverage. These pressures -- along with uncertainty in state funding and declining enrollment trends statewide -- make planning especially complex.”
Swearingen called next year’s budget proposal “cautious,” though she voiced hope that the potential restoration of previously reduced state funding, and along with new proposed funding, could help offset costs related to critical needs such as Chromebook refresh, curriculum updates, tutoring, mental health services, and professional development for teachers and staff.
Superintendent Terry Metzger agreed, saying, “We budget and spend conservatively.”
“Our budget is a reflection of the priorities of the board and our stakeholders,” she added.
As in the past, Swearingen told trustees that salaries and benefits make up the largest portion of expenditures, constituting approximately 89% of the district’s unrestricted budget and about 82% of the total general fund budget.
Thursday night was the required public hearing for the proposed budget; no action was taken. That will happen June 12 when trustees are expected to vote on it. All school districts in the state must pass their budgets before the 2025-26 fiscal year begins July 1.
The board also conducted one more public hearing Thursday night, this one on the district’s Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), a three-year strategy that lays out how state, federal and other money will be used to serve students at the district’s four campuses. LCAPs are developed in conjunction with staff and input from the community gathered over multiple meetings.
Denair’s LCAP has three distinct goals, all with multiple actions to implement:
Students will demonstrate skills that contribute to post-secondary success in the areas of technology, academics, social-emotional wellbeing, and life skills.
By the end of the 2026-27 school year, an additional 20% of students will demonstrate, through local and state measures, authentic literacy (reading, writing and speaking) in all content areas, with an emphasis on math literacy (numeracy).
100% of Denair schools will be safe and positive school campuses, where all students can be successful.
“Our stakeholders told us to stay focused and steady,” Metzger said. “We have been making incremental growth toward our goals. There is good evidence that our actions are working. For example, we’ve been able to reduce chronic absenteeism and increase student achievement in English language arts and math through our multi-tiered systems of support.”
The superintendent also said voter approval last fall of Measure Z – a $32.4 million bond initiative -- will allow the district to immediately upgrade its campus security environment.
“We're now able to continue projects that make our campuses safer,” Metzger explained, pointing to security cameras, additional fencing and the redesign of the elementary campus and Denair Charter Academy next door to be single-point entry schools.
In other action Thursday, trustees:
Trustees approved an agreement with the California School Employees Association (CSEA) on June 12, which includes a one-time payment equal to 4.5% of each employee’s annual base pay. That same one-time payment was also extended to unrepresented groups, including confidential, management, and administrative employees. The arrangement mirrors the agreement approved earlier this spring for certificated (teaching) staff.
Listened as mental health clinician Lina Mateus reviewed data from 2024-25, highlighting strengths, areas of surprise or concern, success stories, and plans to address identified concerns for the upcoming year.
Heard a report from the district’s principals about the iReady spring testing results.
Approved a contract worth $107,289 with the Stanislaus County Office of Education for it to provide various services to the district, including teacher training and professional support, special education, health, technology and learning services, substitute teachers and graphics.
Denair Lions Club Awards Denair High School Students with Scholarship
06/04/2025 02:32 PM
🎉 Whoop Whoop! 🎉
A huge shoutout to the Denair Lions Club for awarding the Tom Dougherty Memorial Scholarship to six amazing Denair High School students! 🙌🎓
Summer School Draws Large Group of Denair Students
05/22/2025 12:03 PM
Though the regular school year is coming to a close this week, hundreds of Denair students and instructors already are making plans to participate in summer classes that will be held until late June.
For elementary-age children, summer school is a time for continued enrichment in core subjects like English, math and science to improve their knowledge and prepare them for the next grade level. Classes begin May 29 at Denair Elementary Charter Academy and run through June 27.
For high school students, summer is an important opportunity to earn credits in courses they failed so they can get back on track to graduate. Classes run June 2-30 at Denair Charter Academy.
At DECA, current transitional kindergarten through sixth-graders are eligible to participate in summer school. As of Monday morning, 215 students are signed up.
The focus of the program, explained Principal Robert Moore, is continued education and enrichment opportunities to keep students engaged during the summer.
“We want staff to take this opportunity to continue giving students the tools to become strong readers or even build upon the foundations that have already been established throughout the year,” he said. “We will continue to provide some interventions this year to strengthen our authentic literacy skills in small groups or individually as well.”
Moore said summer school teachers are encouraged to do longer projects that sometimes get squeezed out in the regular school year.
“The summer program really gives the opportunities to integrate science as well due to its hands-on and project-based nature,” he said.
Instruction that helps with students’ social emotional development also is part of DECA’s summer program, Moore said.
Classes at DECA begin at 8:30 a.m., but many students arrive beginning at 7:30 to take advantage of the free breakfasts that are offered. Classes run until 11:30 a.m. when students are fed a free lunch and have recess.
The afternoon enrichment includes a rotation of fun activities until 4:30 p.m., Moore said. There is a snack for students in the afternoon. Parents are allowed to pick students up any time after the morning instructional period ends.
“I am excited for another successful summer program where we can continue to serve the families in the community by continuing to provide learning experiences and also giving students some shared experiences that will hopefully build their relationships with our school staff,” Moore said.
At DCA, the learning atmosphere is decidedly more serious than what exists next door at DECA. That’s because – for many students – the ability to earn a high school diploma is literally on the line. Students who have failed classes must retake them to receive those all-important credits that will allow them to graduate.
There are two tracks toward credit recovery available at DCA. Both have roughly 30 students enrolled this summer.
The first is independent study – where the students do the bulk of their work at home on a computer and come to campus once a week to meet with their teacher. This is the path taken by students who attend DCA the rest of the year. They can choose from courses in math, English, careers, art, history, science, physical education and computer literacy.
The second option is cyber high, which requires students to physically come to campus five days a week from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. This is the favored alternative of students who attend Denair High and need to make up classes in math, English, health or social science. They typically take one intensive online course at a time. Once they pass the first, they move on to the next one.