Mill Valley School District officials started a community outreach initiative to inform local residents about the district’s precarious budget quandary.

Given the strong level of support Mill Valley taxpayers have shown for their public schools, they deserve that information in clear and practical presentations.

The district made headlines in our pages after it projected that it was facing a $7.3 million budget deficit. That shortfall means the end of the popular transitional kindergarten program. Other approved cuts include a big reduction in district office staffing and consultants and contractors, as well as cuts returning it to pre-pandemic staffing in counseling services.

Over the years, district voters have approved and renewed parcel taxes to help make up for the rollercoaster of funding cycles from the state.

This year, raised by a 5% annual bump, the annual parcel tax was $1,250, one of the highest in the county.

Among the budget problems is an expected drop in that revenue because more elderly property owners are filing for exemptions, likely a result of the annual charge having risen.

The discontinuation of state and federal pandemic relief funds is a big part of the budget dilemma, but so is a costly oversight related to teacher raises. The escalating raises, enacted in 2023, were not accounted for in budgeting for 2026 and beyond. It was a $2.5 million avoidable error.

The district is also facing an estimated $400,000 annual loss of lease income. It was also forced to budget for an estimated $1 million in legal expenses related to all upcoming district plans, more than $500,000 of which has already been spent.

But the district’s passage from having a flush reserve to a projected shortfall, including falling short of maintaining the state-required 3% annual reserve, is troubling — not only for district leaders who face difficult decisions to balance next year’s and near-term annual budgets, but for taxpayers who have historically supported local school taxes and voluntary fundraising led by Kiddo!.

That long-standing support has been aimed at avoiding the budget dilemma the district is facing.

The built-in annual increase, in some years exceeding the cost of living, is supposed to help keep revenue in line with expenses. District leaders also need to be cognizant of the rising percentage of senior exemptions, as well as the impact on the overall cost of living for Mill Valley residents.

Community concern regarding the ongoing fiscal health of Mill Valley’s public schools has long been a top local priority.

That priority deserves to be reflected by the district in a clear and detailed public report on the sudden shift in the district budgetary outlook.

District leaders started that effort with a series of budget information meetings.

One of the stated goals of the district has been to make communication with the community, not just parents, a priority. That means effective outreach and plain jargon-free talk when it comes to detailing the district’s dilemma.