SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif – The Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) board of education met on Thursday to discuss the upcoming water restrictions, Measure U bond updates, the financial report for fiscal year 2024-2025 and receive a presentation on Sierra House Elementary’s school plans.
Board reports
Student board member Miri Lucksinger noted that students were excited for upcoming fall games for volleyball, soccer, cross-country and tennis. The school musical will be “Chicago” and shows will begin on November 7.
Superintendent Todd Cutler spoke on the student advisory council’s presentation at the Small School Districts’ Association (SSDA) conference, which happened earlier that day. “They did an amazing job sharing how they work together to share their concerns, their ideas and their thoughts about how our district is meeting their needs.
Cutler also acknowledged the impact of 9/11 and “all of the difficult things we continue to go through in our countries.”
During employee association reports, South Tahoe Educators’ Association (STEA) thanked the board for their collaboration during negotiation. “Your willingness to listen and work with us allowed for an increase to our healthcare cap that will help our members in sharing the burden of the rising healthcare costs,” said Nicole Mora, president of STEA.
Mora also acknowledged the victims of school shootings across the nation and asked the board to review their safety protocols.
Water restriction
Lauren Benefield, water conservation specialist at the South Tahoe Public Utility District (STPUD) spoke about the impacts of AB 1572. The legislation, which passed in October 2023, prohibits the use of potable water to irrigate non-functional turf on commercial, industrial and institutional properties. Benefield noted that STPUD only provides potable water in the community, as legally, they must send recycled water out of the basin.
Since LTUSD is an education institution, they must pass the amendments by January 1, 2027, and STPUD would be required to enforce compliance. Benefield said that the board and LTUSD staff would meet with the STPUD conservation team to evaluate the non-functional turf on the properties.
STPUD provides a turf buy-back program and water wise landscape consultation, which would help replace the turf on campuses. Each school site would qualify individually, making each site eligible for up to $5,000.
The city is also currently making efforts to remove turf, especially along Ski Run and U.S. Highway 50. They are cultivating their own plants to replace the turf—the board considered the possibility of doing that or buying excess plants from the city.
President Lauri Kemper was in high support of the upcoming work, as she worked for 30 years on the Lahontan Water Control Board. “I like to remind the public that when people first came to Lake Tahoe… they sat on the dirt and had picnics, and there was no such thing as turf. In general, it’s not necessary in my opinion… and our habitat and native species prefer less turf.”
Sierra House Elementary
Principal Karin Holmes presented on Sierra House Elementary School’s plans for the year. The school currently has 378 students, with 76 students receiving special services, 211 students who had turned in Fund our Future surveys and 69 English learners.
Holmes highlighted the pilot of Illustrative Mathematics, which the school included in its Single Focus plan, and their current work to increase attendance numbers for the school. She also highlighted the work of Mandy Miller, Kim Yuan and Casey Donahue in supporting social emotional support and learning.
The board expressed that they would miss Holmes, who said that this would be her last year as principal. They also praised her previous successes.
Budget items
First, Geroge Rojas of the Cumming Group provided updates on the Measure U bond work. The group had its overview done to ensure that bonds were only spent on the authorized uses. They plan to submit their designs regarding Tahoe Valley and South Tahoe High School to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) by the end of the month, complete the design development phase and complete the storm water pollution plan before November this year.
The board approved the proposal for the special education study for LTUSD in spring 2026, which would likely take place in February or March. Darrell Miller, chairman of the community advisory committee for special education, said, “We’re looking forward to working with SSC and providing feedback… I think that’s really important that it’s a collaborative effort in this process.”
Lastly, chief business officer Kelly Buttery presented the financial report from fiscal year 2024-2025. Their total revenue was $60.9 million, with 65.5% of those funds coming from the local control formula funds. The total expenditures was $62 million, of which salaries and benefits represent 83%.
The total revenues were lower than projected due to changes in the property taxes, federal, state and local revenue and local control formula funds factors. However, expenditures were lower in books and supplies, services and other operating expenditures. This resulted in an increase of the ending fund balance of $2.6 million. Buttery said, “A lot of the cuts we did make towards the end of the year really did pay off.”
The unaudited report was unanimously approved by the board.
Board policy updates
The California School Boards Association provided proposed updates to the board policies, including safety planning and wildfire evacuations, Title IX complaint procedures and technology plans among others. The board received the information and will make a motion in a future meeting.
The next school board meeting will take place on September 25.
