September 12, 2025
Dear LAFSD Families,
I’m writing with a brief update on our District budget and a few related topics - it’s the fourth in my series of start-of-year letters.
This week, the LAFSD Governing Board approved the “Unaudited Actuals” for the last school year. This report is the most conclusive so far on last year’s budget, and the headlines from the report are clear: Over the last two years of cuts, we’ve made a real difference in reducing our already-lean spending; and in order to protect programs for our students, we will need to cut spending even further.
If you have a few minutes, I encourage you to check out the presentation on our LAFSD website.
I offer my sincere thanks to you, our local community, for your ongoing support of our schools. This support takes two very important forms - Measure L, a parcel tax approved by Lafayette voters in 2020; and LPIE, which directs donations straight to our classrooms. These local funds make a critical difference to our schools, and account for a full 20% of our annual budget.
In the coming month, I‘ll be visiting our schools to share more information about how Lafayette’s TK-8 schools are funded. I hope you can join me for a more detailed dialogue, and to learn about how you can make a difference. These “In the Know” presentations are listed below:
Thank you so much for your support of our schools!
Warmly,
Brent Stephens
Superintendent