When the Santa Monica-Malibu Board of Education adopted the budget this summer, district officials were projecting a $6.8 million deficit. Now they’re saying it could be more like $8.7 million.
Revenues are a little higher than expected but so are expenditures, mostly due to carryover balances, said Chief Financial Officer Jan Maez.
“It might be alarming to have that big of a change between July 1 and Oct. 31,” she told the board, “but that’s pretty standard.”
The gap is expected to narrow, she said.
“Our expenditures are increasing a little slower than our revenue is increasing so our deficit is being reduced,” Maez said.
This story originally appeared in the Santa Monica Daily Press.