"Faced with a smaller-than-expected deficit, San Diego Unified leaders opted Tuesday to spare arts and athletics programs, forgo closing schools, and keep popular programs in Old Town and Balboa Park intact and closed nearly all of its budget gap with other cuts...They took many proposed cuts off the table, including eliminating the arts, athletics and popular programs in Old Town and Balboa Park, firmly opposed the closure of schools, and altered plans to streamline busing so that families would not need to wake up as early, a change that will reduce those savings from $2.4 million to roughly $2 million. "