San Bernardino County is bailing the Needles Unified School District out of a $2,025,764 financial crisis with what is anticipated to be two loans, provided in August and this month, in that amount.
Just as the 2025-2026 school year was to begin, on August 5, 2025, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approved County Treasurer Ensen Mason making a $1,274,347 temporary transfer of funds to the Needles Unified School District, after certifying the district had a need for the monetary infusion as a result of a delay of property tax revenues, which apparently came about as a consequence of the inability of a substantial number of homeowners in the impoverished community being delinquent on paying their taxes.
The Needles Unified School District consists of five schools – Chemehuevi Valley Elementary School, Monument Peak School, Needles High School, Needles Middle School and Vista Colorado Elementary School. There are 918 students currently enrolled in schools in the district.
In the 2025, i.e., the 2024-25 school year, the most recent year for which financial figures are available, the district had a planned annual budget of $19,856,618 in revenues and $19,361,927 in expenditures.
In recent years, however, the district has had difficulty in meeting its financial goals.
The $19,856,618 it was scheduled to receive in the 2024-25 budget consisted of $14,399,934 in state-provided Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) money, $2,412,844 is other state funds, $911,600 in local funds, and $2,132,240 is federal funds. While the revenue was consistent with the budget, expenditures were not kept in line with what was allotted for most of the district’s educational and other program.
In 2023-24, for example, the district had budgeted $3,009,517 in expenditures for high needs students, while actual expenditures for high needs students turned out to be $3,139,198. Over the years, this deficit spending was defrayed by movement of money out of the district’s reserves.
It appears that as of 2025-26, the district’s reserves are depleted.
According to Mason, “Since that approval [the advance of the $1,274,347 in August], the district has experienced an additional and unanticipated financial shortfall due to the ongoing federal government shutdown. As a result, the district has not received expected federal Impact Aid payments, which are a critical source of operational funding. The district has submitted a request for an additional temporary transfer of funds in the amount of $751,417. The county auditor/treasurer and tax collector’s office considered multiple factors in evaluating the request, including the district’s revised cash flow projections, its deepest projected cash deficit, and anticipated property tax revenues. The requested temporary transfer of funds is intended to address temporary cash flow issues resulting from the delay in federal funding. In accordance with statutory guidelines, county auditor/treasurer and tax collector’s office recommends temporary transfers of funds in amounts that are the lesser of the district’s request, 85 percent of its anticipated property tax revenue, or 125 percent of its deepest projected cash deficit. Upon review, county auditor/treasurer and tax collector’s office finds that the district has demonstrated a continued reasonable need for temporary cash assistance and recommends approval of an additional temporary transfer of funds in the amount of $751,417. When combined with the previously approved $1,274,347, the total temporary transfer of funds amount available to the district for 2025-26 will be $2,025,764. The recommended amount remains within statutory limits and reflects approximately 84 percent of the district’s anticipated property tax revenue for 2025-26. The temporary transfer of funds will be made by increasing the existing ‘line-of-credit’ established for the district within the county’s financial management system. Temporary transfers of funds are repaid from property tax collections before these funds are used to satisfy any other district obligations. Repayment will begin with the first full property tax apportionment occurring after November 1, 2025, and must be completed no later than April 27, 2026.”