THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING MEASURE JJ !
In November 2024, San Marcos Unified School District families and residents voted on and approved general obligation bond Measure JJ, which will be used to upgrade, repair and modernize aging facilities throughout SMUSD.
Because school districts do not receive any annual, ongoing funding from the State for facilities maintenance or construction, these costs must come from a school district’s general fund or through a voter-approved bond measure. These funds are critical for school districts and by law, bond funds can only be used for school construction.
While SMUSD operates with prudent fiscal stewardship and has received the highest budget rating a district can receive, the hundreds of millions necessary to reconstruct aging schools would not be possible without the community support to pass Measure JJ. THANK YOU for your trust and commitment to keep San Marcos one of the top five school districts in San Diego county and an award-winning school district!
We will continue to keep you updated on school construction project updates as we have progress and news to share. Thank you!
BECOMING FUTURE READY
In January 2022, the Governing Board, along with staff, students, parents, community members, business partners and more, came together to create our SMUSD Portrait of a Graduate vision for all students.
We believe the five core competencies we want every SMUSD graduate to embody: Adaptability, Critical Thinking, Communication, Empathy, and Leadership, will empower students to pursue whatever future they choose, or Future Ready.
The next step was to create a clear direction and a roadmap to bring this vision to life—this is our Strategic Plan, or what we call our Strategic Promise to all SMUSD students.
For the complete SMUSD Strategic Promise flipbook, please scan the QR code
Scan the QR code to see how we are bringing this vision to life for our SMUSD students
We invite you to
see
just a few of the ways we are bringing the Portrait of a Graduate to life to ensure ALL students succeed:
MIDDLE SCHOOL EXPERIENCE
One of the largest accomplishments this year in moving the Portrait of a Graduate vision for all students forward, is our work around redesigning the middle school experience for students.
Not only is this a changing and often challenging time of life, but the transition from an elementary student to secondary student can be difficult. We also realize that students’ needs significantly shift during this time and we need our learning models and their experience to be one of fostering their individual strengths, talents and gifts, as well as engaging them in their own learning. To foster this experience, we are in the process of creating Future Ready Learning Labs at every middle school, as well as offering academic courses that foster their interests, talents and future potential career opportunities.
FARM TO SCHOOL NUTRITION FOR EVERY STUDENT
One of the highlights of the Child Nutrition Services (CNS) department at SMUSD is their unique Farm to School initiative that supports the local economy and provides the freshest seasonal produce to our school cafeterias.
Serving over 15,000 meals a day across the district, the $13 million CNS budget is federally & state funded and self-sustaining, meaning they do not receive funds from the SMUSD General Fund and are modeled similarly to a restaurant, managing revenues and expenses. Supporting local family farms and providing our students with the highest quality food items to fuel their learning is unique to San Marcos schools.
EXPANDING TRANSPORTATION SERVICES
For the first time in more than 10 years, the 2022-23 enacted California State Budget included additional grant funding for Home-to-School Transportation providing San Marcos Unified with nearly $2.8 million per year to either expand Home-to-School transportation or absorb the funds into the existing Transportation Budget. While some districts simply chose to absorb the funding, at SMUSD we chose to expand service, and our Home-to-School Transportation Plan outlines which students would be eligible for the new service, per the State’s funding criteria, and outlines the goal to phase in as many schools as possible in the coming years.
In January 2025, we are excited to announce every elementary school and middle school in the San Marcos Unified School District now offers bus service.
255 Pico Avenue Suite
San Marcos, CA 92069
San Marcos Unified School District Leadership
Dr. Andy Johnsen
Garcia
Amy Ventetuolo