On Wednesday, March 32nd, the SDoUF (School District of Unified Fremont) Board of Education voted on and approved a bill that would allow each SDoUF school to receive up to $1.5 million in additional funding for the 2020-2021 school year.

After widespread complaints from faculty around the district regarding the budget cuts and the lack of materials, the SDoUF Board was forced to dive deep into their accounts and find money to reallocate.

According to various SDoUF sources, the Board had been working hard for over a month, and continued to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic. The breakthrough came on March 26th, when a Board member suggested that they pull various funds from the district’s discretionary budget and allocate those funds to each school’s site funds. 

“One of the biggest complaints that the staff have is the lack of adequate materials and supplies due to the budget cuts, and we really wanted to solve that,” said board member Naru Toe. “All the board members dug deep and worked hard to solve this issue.” 

The school district has placed various guidelines for the use of this money. This money can only be used by the departments to purchase materials or add new classes. Additionally, all of these purchases should go through the district for approval. Many teachers, staff, and students were ecstatic to hear about the amazing occurrence. 

“In my many years of working as a staff member, I have never heard of SDoUF increasing the budget,” said Principal Mals B. “I was very surprised to hear this. Every year, when the district announces budget cuts, I have to go through all the accounts and reallocate money. It looks like they finally got to see how hard my job is.”

For the first time in many years, there is a possibility of adding new classes rather than removing them. According to Principal B, these classes would be decided after opinions were received from the AP Advocacy group.

“Every year, this group of kids tries to convince the administration to add or keep various AP classes, which we aren’t able to do due to the budget cuts,” said Principal B. “For the first time, I can listen to their opinions and add classes.”

The English department showed great excitement after this announcement. Department head Mrs. JK showed her enthusiasm to her students while in a zoom class. 

“[The English Department] can finally buy books, and we won’t have to rely on other teachers for rotating books,” said Mrs. JK. “Now I also won’t need to pay for tissues and other supplies with my own money.”

Some students go as far as saying that this budget increase may be the best thing that the district has done.