SAN MARCOS (KGTV) — San Marcos Unified School District is grappling with an $11 million budget deficit driven by declining enrollment, a trend Superintendent Andy Johnsen says is affecting school districts across California.
The district has lost 2,300 students over the past six years — a decline that translates to roughly $30 million in lost revenue.
"Enrollment is declining all throughout the state. In San Marcos Unified, we've lost 2,300 students in the past six years," Johnsen said. "And that equates to roughly about $30 million of lost revenue for us."
Johnsen said the loss is not primarily driven by families choosing charter or private schools, but rather by falling birth rates and residents leaving California.
"People ask, where are the kids going? Is it charter schools? Is it private schools? There are a few families that are doing those things, but by and large and far and away, it's due to lower birth rates and people moving out of the state," Johnsen said.
With revenue largely outside the district's control, Johnsen said the focus has shifted to managing expenses — and that means looking at staffing.
"When we can't control revenues, we can only control expenses. Our major expense is people. That's where we have to find the savings, and it's gut-wrenching," Johnsen said. "And it's a horrific part of the work, but that's actually the mathematical reality of what we're facing."
A 2025 report on San Marcos Unified found that Richland Elementary School is expected to see a 22% drop in enrollment by 2035. Foothills High faces an even steeper decline, with enrollment projected to fall by more than half over the same period.
Dale Pluciennik, president of the San Marcos Educators Association, said his priority is protecting the jobs of staff who work directly with students.
"We have a wonderful school district, and a big part of that is we have wonderful teachers. We have wonderful counselors, social workers, nurses, speech language pathologists, psychologists that we all represent, and they all do wonderful things for students, and they're dealing with them every day," Pluciennik said.
Johnsen said the district will need to make difficult choices about where to focus its resources going forward.
"It's like my grandmother used to say, we can do anything, we just can't do everything. So that's the conversation we're going to need to have together," Johnsen said.
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