Paso Robles Joint Unified School District (PRJUSD) Superintendent Jennifer Loftus just completed her first year at the district, tackling low test scores and a nearly $5 million budget deficit.
“The combination of reducing some positions and providing that retirement incentive allowed us to close several million dollars on our structural budget deficit," Loftus said. "It's not completely closed yet, but we did make quite a bit of headway going into the next school year.”
According to Loftus, 45 district workers took advantage of the early retirement incentive offered back in February.
They’ll now enter the upcoming school year with a $2 million budget deficit as the district also navigates severely low math test scores.
“It's especially difficult when you think about the supplemental programs that you want to provide students because, regardless, at the end of the day, our students need more than what we're currently giving them," Loftus added.
Last year's test scores indicated only 28% of students met or exceeded the state standard in math testing. They’re still awaiting this year's test results. However, Loftus says drastic improvements don’t happen overnight.
While there’s still work to do, Loftus says she's grateful for her first year back home.
