The Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Trustees last week discussed its reserve policy — or lack thereof — and tasked the district’s Finance Committee with options for establishing one.

The committee, per district staff, will explore whether the policy should be at a specific number or be more flexible, as well as the pros and cons of setting a reserve policy.

The district’s reserves are essentially a savings account.

Many agencies have policies about how much money should be in the reserves at any given time in case of emergencies. 

Trustee Sunita Beall said the current policy is vague.

The only target number is that the district reserves won’t go below 3%.

When districts do dip below 3% in their reserves, they go into receivership and have to get an emergency loan from the state in order to stay solvent.

Beall suggested that the board task the committee with setting a better reserve policy with a certain number or a range to stay at. 

She also said she was told that in 2013 there was a motion to set the reserve policy at 10%, but it doesn’t appear that the motion was turned into actual policy.

Trustee Gabe Escobedo said during most of his time on the board, he believed there was a 10% reserve policy. 

“I’d like to establish something of the sort,” Escobedo said.

“Some of our projections get close to 3%, and that’s not a place where I want the district to be,” he added.

Conrad Tedeschi, assistant superintendent of Business Services, said he can return to the board in October with a recommendation from the committee.