Fresno Unified cuts $2.2 million in field trip funding — sixth-grade camp, aquarium visits now unfunded

Thousands of Fresno Unified elementary students are starting the 2026-27 school year without district funding for field trips, including the sixth-grade camping trip many students anticipate all year.

The district eliminated approximately $2.2 million in centrally funded enrichment trips for students in transitional kindergarten through sixth grade as part of budget cuts addressing a projected $55 million deficit. The decision affects 64 school sites across the district.

“To quote my daughter, she said the only reason she came to sixth grade was for sixth grade camp,” Michelle Hernandez, whose daughter attends Figarden Elementary, told ABC30. Her daughter had been looking forward to the trip as a rite of passage.

Cristina Gutierrez, a mother of three at Wilson Elementary, said her daughter had been especially excited about spending time with classmates away from home. “She was actually looking forward to being in sixth grade and going out with her classmates, and having this experience where mom and dad’s not there, and they are enjoying and learning something different,” Gutierrez said.

Trips potentially affected include visits to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, local museums, the Big Fresno Fair, and the overnight camping trip traditionally offered to sixth graders. Mayfair Elementary Principal Faviola Perez estimated she would need to raise roughly $50,000 within two months to cover the camping trip for her sixth graders — about $300 per student. “I know for a fact that I cannot fund sixth grade camp,” Perez said, “and because we were told so late, I need some time to plan.”

The district said the cuts were necessary to align ongoing expenses with available revenue, and noted that individual schools could still pay for trips using their own budgets or explore fundraising.

Manuel Bonilla, president of the Fresno Teachers Association, called that solution “very disingenuous.” “Those budgets are governed by a legal process, and that legal process was finished in the budgeting process in spring,” Bonilla said. School site budgets are set through School Site Council processes at the end of the prior school year, meaning sites have no flexibility to redirect funds this year without cutting something else already committed to students.

Bonilla also argued the decision creates disparities between schools with access to additional resources and those without. “There are some school sites where either the school site or the parents have some additional resources,” he said.

The district responded that it is not eliminating field trips, only reducing a centralized subsidy that was added about four years ago when additional funding became available. “What is happening now is essentially a return to how these activities were funded before the district stepped in financially,” the district said in a statement.

The district also pointed to $30 million set aside during the last bargaining cycle for FTA-directed expenditures benefiting students, and suggested the union could dedicate some of those remaining funds to restore field trips if it’s a shared priority.

The FTA countered that the district has roughly $122 million in unrestricted reserves and questioned why a relatively small amount wasn’t budgeted for field trips. “The fact that they just didn’t simply budget it, knowing that they have $122 million to spend on this and it’s only $2 million, that’s frustrating. It’s an oversight of district leadership,” Bonilla said.

The district responded that the $122 million is already allocated for purposes including FTA student supports, pandemic recovery, and textbooks.

Parents said they learned about the cuts during back-to-school night, after budgets were already set. “It didn’t feel like there was any indication that this would be coming,” Hernandez said. “Moving forward, what can we do and how can we help as parents?”

Some in the community have pointed to grants that have not been fully used, such as an arts and enrichment grant of $12 million from Prop 28, received in 2025.

Fresno unified school District was also the recipient of a $20 million “no strubgs” grant from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos. The district was the only one in the nation to receive a grant of this kind. Evidence is murky, but it appears from statements of officials and financial documents that the funds may have been deposited into a fellowship for scholarships, using the interest as an annual funding. The Fresno Unified Scholarship Fund currently holds over $20 million in assets.

The Breakdown

• Fresno Unified eliminated $2.2 million in centrally funded field trips for TK–6th grade students for the 2026-27 school year, affecting 64 school sites.
• The cut was part of broader budget reductions addressing a projected $55 million deficit.
• Trips affected include sixth-grade camp (estimated at $300 per student at Mayfair Elementary), visits to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, local museums, and the Big Fresno Fair.
• The district says schools can still offer trips using their own site budgets or fundraising, but school budgets were finalized in spring through School Site Council processes, leaving no flexibility this year.
• The FTA points to roughly $122 million in district reserves; the district says those funds are already allocated for other purposes and suggests the union use part of $30 million set aside for FTA-directed student expenditures.
• Unused grant funding may still be on the table.

What This Means for You

This decision by Fresno Unified’s governing board directly affects whether your child — or your neighbor’s child — gets to leave the classroom this year for experiences many families count on as part of growing up in this district. A sixth grader at Mayfair who’s been looking forward to camp since kindergarten may now face a $300 bill her family can’t afford, or miss the trip altogether. A kindergartner at Wilson who would have visited the aquarium this year may not get that chance at all.

The question for you as a voter is whether the board that made this cut — saving $2.2 million against a $55 million deficit, while holding $122 million in reserves the district says is already committed — made the right call about what to protect and what to eliminate. When school budgets were locked in spring and families learned about the cut only at back-to-school night in August, was that the leadership and planning your kids’ education deserves? That’s the judgment you’re being asked to make when trustees come up for re-election.

What You Can Do

The Fresno Teachers Association has launched a petition calling on the district to meet with the union and find a way to restore funding for field trips. The petition is available through the FTA.

Fresno Unified School Board trustees can be contacted through the district’s website. The next board meeting will be an opportunity for public comment on this decision.

What to Watch

The district is framing this as a tough-but-necessary budget cut, returning to how field trips were funded before a temporary subsidy was added four years ago. The FTA is framing it as a choice — $2.2 million out of a $2 billion budget, with $122 million in reserves on hand. Both can’t be right.

Here’s the real question: if the district genuinely couldn’t afford this $2.2 million, why does it still have $122 million sitting in reserves? And if those reserves are truly locked up for other commitments, why didn’t the board plan for the end of temporary field-trip funding before spring budgets were finalized and families were left to find out in August?

The equity angle is also worth watching closely. Bonilla noted that “some school sites where either the school site or the parents have some additional resources” may be able to replace this funding on their own. Schools in lower-income neighborhoods, where families are already stretched thin, may simply go without. A decision like this doesn’t cut field trips equally — it cuts them for the kids whose families can least afford to make up the difference.

Finally, watch whether this $30 million the district says was set aside for “FTA-directed expenditures” actually gets used to restore trips, or whether it becomes a blame-shifting tool — the district saying “the union could have fixed this.” If neither side budges, the sixth graders missing camp this October are the ones who lose.