Follow the Money: Where Burbank's School Dollars Go

All staff salaries

Contracts & consultants

Contracts' share of budget

Budget year

Band width is proportional to dollars and uses the same scale for every year, so years can be compared directly. Hover or tap a band for details.

Remember: This year's budget only balances on paper.

The 2026-27 budget looks close to break-even, a year after BUSD estimated a $7.9 million gap in 2025-26. The district’s own budget documents show how that happened, and why it won’t last.

New state money does most of the work. Revenue rises $10.5 million: $5.2 million from the state’s cost-of-living increase and $5.2 million from higher state special-education funding. Spending discipline accounts for little of the change.
About $2.8 million in costs were moved, not cut. $1.5 million in equipment and capital purchases moved to the Deferred Maintenance fund, and about $1.3 million in debt service, including a solar lease, moved to Fund 40.
Known costs are left out. The pending classified-staff (CSEA) contract is not included, and no salary-schedule increase is assumed for anyone.
The core operating budget is still in deficit, and it gets worse. The unrestricted General Fund runs −$3.75 million in 2026-27, −$4.36 million in 2027-28 and −$4.47 million in 2028-29. The district says this “is not sustainable beyond the projection horizon without corrective action.”
Reserves drain fast. Unrestricted reserves fall 63%, from $19.8 million to $7.2 million, by 2028-29, when total available reserves hit the state’s 3% minimum.
BUSD will borrow to cover cash shortfalls. The plan borrows $10 million from Fund 40 in October 2026 and $12 million in October 2027 to get through the November–March low point. The district calls this routine, but the amount grows each year.
New commitments keep coming. The October 8, 2026 board agenda alone includes a $23,668 weather-monitoring system paid from the General Fund and a $525,000, three-year consulting contract with CAST, Inc. paid from a state block grant.

Sources: BUSD 2026-27 Adopted Budget (budget adoption narrative and multiyear projection narrative); BUSD board reports for October 8, 2026, items 14c and 14k.

Where it comes from

Where it goes

Where it could go

Cut half of discretionary contracts. BUSD budgets $10.2M in unrestricted money for consultants and outside contracts in 2026-27. Half of that, $5.1M, would more than cover the $3.75M structural deficit.
Use flexible state money on our own people. The state block grant BUSD is tapping for a $525,000 consulting contract can also pay rising pension and health costs, teacher retention and coaching by our own teachers. About $7.2M remains.
Hold administrator pay to the pace of teacher pay. Had administrator salaries grown at the teachers' rate since 2021-22, they would cost about $1.5M less this year.
Put management growth on hold. The 2026-27 budget adds 7.25 management positions while cutting 8.44 teaching and classified positions.

Budgeted salaries				2026-27

Eight budgets side by side

Every adopted budget from 2019-20 through 2025-26 planned to spend more than BUSD expected to take in; the 2026-27 budget is close to break-even. Since 2019-20, budgeted administrator salaries rose 30% while teacher salaries rose 14%. Contracts and consultants, itemized in the budget starting in 2021-22, have more than doubled since then.

Year	Revenue	Spending	From reserves	Teacher salaries	Administrator salaries	Contracts & consultants
Change

* The 2019-20 and 2020-21 adopted budgets don’t itemize contracts and consultants, so these two figures are what the district actually spent that year (codes 5100 and 5800), from its unaudited actuals: 2019-20, 2020-21. All other figures are budgeted amounts. No BUSD budget separates EdTech from other consulting; both are in code 5800.

Table view

Revenue and reserves
Source	Amount	Share
Total available		100%

Spending
Category	Amount	Share
Total spending		100%

Sources: BUSD adopted budgets, General Fund, unrestricted and restricted combined, budget-year column: 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26, 2026-27. These are the budgets the board adopted each June, not what was actually spent. "From reserves" is spending minus revenue; transfers between funds are not shown in the diagrams (in 2026-27 they total $1.75 million and are described in the summary). Spending categories use state account codes: teacher salaries 1100; administrators 1300 and 2300; counselors, nurses and other certificated 1200 and 1900; classified staff 2100, 2200, 2400 and 2900; benefits 3000s; books and supplies 4000s; contracts and consultants 5100 and 5800; utilities, repairs and leases 5500–5600; insurance and other 5200–5400, 5700, 5900, 6000s and 7000s. The 2019-20 and 2020-21 budget reports give only a total for services and other operating expenses (5000s), so those years show "All services & contracts" instead of separate contracts, utilities and insurance. Salary figures exclude employee benefits. Facilities bond money (Measures S and ABC) is in a separate fund and is not shown.