New elementary school boundaries for the 2026-2027 school year were approved by the Los Banos Unified Board of Education at their Feb. 13 meeting.
The board also approved budget guidelines, as the 2026-2027 budget draws closer. Additionally, they approved a $4 million contingency budget for LBHS’ modernization, a $4 million bid for LBHS roof work and tabled the decision to begin planning a student-to-teacher pathway to the next meeting.
Miano Elementary’s previous boundary, east of Mercey Springs and extending south of Rockport Drive, will now be east on Overland and south on Place Road, with the eastern boundary at the northern boundary of the Verona subdivision.
Lorena Falasco will expand south to houses north of Willmott Avenue. The eastern border of Lorena Falasco remains at Stonewood Drive with minor changes.
All of Westside Union retains everything south east of the Cardoza Road and Ortigalita Road intersection, and receives almost all of Los Banos Elementary’s boundaries.
Eric Sowersby, Director of Elementary Education, explained that Los Banos Elementary will become “a dual-immersion school and will draw from all [in] the district.” The changes are done to rebalance the elementary boundaries and make it easier on the bus system.
Sowersby noted that this is usually done every five years, or with the opening of an elementary school. This hasn’t been done in seven.
Board President Anthony Parreira noted, “This is a unique situation because we have other districts [in California] that are redoing their boundaries because they’re closing schools because they have such a large number of declining enrollment…I’d rather be doing this than closing a school.”
The budget guidelines, as presented by Director of Fiscal Service Melanie Marcella, include $1,630,000 in General Fund cuts. “This is the worst-case scenario,” Marcella told the board. Board Member Marlene Smith was especially concerned, “I’ve never seen this in this district,” and asked how it would affect students.
Marcella assured the board that it would only affect district admin’s “supplies, conference and travel [expenses].”
The deficit was caused by the projected COLA for 2026-2027, which turned out to be $2.41 million when $3.2 million was expected, losing $1.2 million. Another $430,000 was lost when Merced County Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) filled long vacant positions, explained Interim Superintendent Sean Richey.
SELPA provides county-wide special education support to all districts. Richey explained that with the vacant positions filled, the county overspent by $6 million, forcing every district to raise their needed contribution.
Richey reflected that many students helped by SELPA are along the east side of the county, and that if allocated more fairly, there could be capacity for 80 more special education students on the west side.
Explained by Facilities and Special Projects Manager Sherry Munday, the new $4,137,324.40 contingency budget for LBHS’ Modernization is “to minimize project delays.”
It gives Munday a signature authority to approve $0 to $50,000 change orders. Anything between $50,000 and $100,000 needs approval from the superintendent and assistant superintendent of administrative services. Anything higher than $100,000 will go to the board for approval, or its facilities sub-committee.
$3,849,000 will go to Diede Construction, Inc. for roofing in the LBHS Modernization. In her report, Munday noted that demolition for the new Admin building is already done.
The admin building modular is expected to arrive in March. The H wing is now stripped to its wood studs for abatement.
“There was no insulation in the walls or the ceiling,” Munday reported as a fun find.
A $76,200 contract with Educators Rising was delayed until the next meeting. Director of Secondary Education Daniel Sutton, explained that the contract is to plan a future elective pathway for students to become teachers. The price tag will be paid through a $187,000 Golden State Pathways Grant.
Board members were very supportive, but Board President Parreira and Board Member Dayna Valadao were uncomfortable signing a contract that has a start date prior to the meeting.
Sutton estimates the pathway will not be ready for implementation until the 2028-2029 school year.
Munday also reported that the next phase of Loftin Stadium is delayed because an electronics “bump-out” in the press box was not Division of State Architects-approved, forcing them to reverse engineer the bump-out to prove to DSA that it is structurally sound. Otherwise, the press box work may have to be torn up and rebuilt.
In Richey’s report, he gave a statement on the student walkout protests against ICE, “While we acknowledge our students right to have their free expression, we also acknowledge that it’s a much safer situation for all involved if they stay on campus and express that right there in place where in a control environment safe and we can exercise our authority as a local practice.”
At the beginning of the meeting, Pacheco High School Choir performed “We Remember Them,” the last song they sang at the 84th Pearl Harbor Memorial in Hawaii. They received a standing ovation from the entire room.
