Sacramento schools’ money trouble just got worse: $48 million in cuts over two years

The Sacramento City Unified School District is even more in the red than previously thought: By 2020, the district will have a structural deficit of $48 million by 2020 if cuts aren’t made, a gap that’s almost $12 million more than announced in June, and $8 million more than the district’s most recent estimates.

“It’s not what we like to hear but it’s the truth,” said district spokesperson Alex Barrios.

The district estimates it must make $28.5 million in cuts for the next school year, and another $19.5 million the following year to close the gap. But where those cuts will be made has yet to be released, even as a county-set deadline to submit a detailed budget is fast approaching.

“We can’t wait until 2020-2021” to address the deficit, “because then the cuts won’t pan out,” Barrios said.

The district’s previous 2018-19 budget was rejected in August by the county superintendent for failing to address what was then estimated to be a $22.1 million shortfall next year, and a $40 million shortfall the following year that would not allow the district to set aside the state-mandated 2 percent of the budget towards reserve.

Now those figures, drawn up by a county-appointed independent financial adviser, have ballooned “after shoring up the numbers” and “making sure we’re crossing our Ts and dotting our Is,” Barrios said.

The district has until Monday to submit a revised, satisfactory budget to the county, and the school board is set to review and approve the new estimates, and any potential cuts, at a Thursday meeting.

“The adviser doesn’t tell them how to make cuts,” said Sacramento County Office of Education spokesman Tim Herrera. “The adviser tells them how much they have to work with.”

The school district will submit a budget with $10 million in cuts to the county by the Monday deadline, according to a statement from Superintendent Jorge Aguilar and Sacramento City Unified Board of Education President Jessie Ryan released Wednesday evening. The statement did not identify where those cuts will be made.

That proposal, they acknowledge, “does not contain sufficient reductions to completely eliminate the structural deficit,” but they said that the district needs more time to work alongside the Sacramento County Office of Education, the County Superintendent’s appointed fiscal adviser and labor unions to move forward.

“Making real, solid, and permanent reductions in expenditures to address our longstanding fiscal problems requires courage and commitment and working in collaboration with all partners and stakeholders,” they said in the statement. “Quick fixes made within a 30-day period will not serve students well.”

The Monday deadline represents a speedy turnaround that Sacramento City Teachers Association President David Fisher said doesn’t give the public sufficient time to give input.

“It doesn’t resolve anything and things are worse,” Fisher said. “How are they going to receive comments on a budget we’ve just seen that’s substantially out of whack?”

“It’s quite frightening that they don’t seem to have any clue what’s happening on their budget,” Fisher said.

For example, “if you budget on spending $100 and you check the actual electricity bill for the whole year,” Barrios said, “but you actually spent $120, then you know you spend more in a 12 month period and you change the monthly payments.” Barrios could not comment on what strategy the district used in past budgets.

Herrera said if the budget submitted to the county is again rejected, Sacramento City Unified could be instructed to revise again and make additional cuts. State law gives districts 30 days to submit revised budgets after the school board is notified of a disapproval.

“Our current and future generations of students are counting on us to come together to solve this problem. We are determined not to let them down,” the statement concludes.

This story was originally published October 3, 2018 at 12:31 PM.