District Budget Advisory Committee

Welcome to the Lafayette Schools’ District Budget Advisory Committee (DBAC) webpage - a resource for understanding the work of the DBAC, a committee made up of teachers, classified staff, parents/caregivers, administrators, and Governing Board representatives. Relaunched in 2023, the DBAC is focused on making annual reductions and savings recommendations to the Superintendent and Governing Board.

For the 24-25 school year, the Governing Board adopted $2.1M in savings and reductions recommended by the District Budget Advisory Committee. However, costs continue to exceed revenue and the District is relying on one-time reserves to cover the gap. For 2025-26, the District anticipates at least another $2M in budget reductions to slow the pace of its deficit spending.

There are a number of reasons for these recommendations:

• State funding for public education in Lafayette continues to be inadequate.
• For the 24-25 school year, districts received only a 1.07% Cost of Living Increase from the state; this is significantly lower than previous years
• Ongoing inflation means that the District will continue to see cost increases, with little new revenue to cover these costs.

Here is a high-level timeline of our budget input decision-making process for 2025-26: