Sacramento school district principals offer to slash their pay to help avoid budget cuts

Hours before the Sacramento City Unified School District board is scheduled to debate budget cuts, the districts principals and assistant principals offered to reduce their salaries by 2%, and called on the superintendent and teachers to do the same to save the struggling district from a state takeover.

The letter from the principals arrived before Thursday’s school board meeting where board members will vote on potential budget cuts to save $18 million as the district tries to prevent insolvency.

United Professional Educators Director Richard Owen and President Judy Farina stated in the letter that principals and assistant principals across the district would consider accepting a state auditor’s recommendation and cut their salaries by 2%. The offer was contingent on teachers and other labor groups doing the same.

“We are stepping up and setting an example, and we are all going to have to sacrifice here,” Owen told The Sacramento Bee. “But we are not doing it alone.”

“The district administrators represented by UPE should be recognized for their willingness to give back wages to the district,” read a statement to The Bee from the Sacramento City Teachers Association union. “But if they believe that’s the right move to make, they should just do it without demanding that those who can’t afford it, including some district staff making just above minimum wage, also have to make the same sacrifice.”

The UPE said it would require a Memorandum of Understanding that explains when cuts would occur and — once the district’s budget improves — when 2% replacement would take place.

“At a very dark moment for our school district, this proposal from the principals union does provide a glimmer of hope,” said Daniel Conway of the Save Our Students Coalition and a parent of four students in the district. “While I am very skeptical that other parties involved will agree to take the same 2% pay cut, I appreciate that UPE is showing leadership and is prepared for shared sacrifice.”

The UPE made nearly two dozen budget reduction suggestions, including:

▪ Consolidating positions and department responsibilities;

▪ Eliminating positions that were initially grant funded and are now pulling from general fund;

▪ Providing waivers to students to take the PSAT, AP and SAT exams instead of having the district cover the cost;

▪ Reducing legal fees by 50% by having the district’s in-house legal team work on negotiations, rather than an outside firm.

The UPE also recommended against actions including school closures, reducing social workers and counselors, and reducing staff that offered services and programs that attract families to the district.

“Preserving programs that directly serve students MUST be prioritized above all the other considerations,” read the letter. “These proposed cuts only serve to make us educational pretenders who seek to preserve our status even though we would become a shell of a district – unable to provide a quality education to the more than 38,000 students we serve. The unintended consequences are unlimited if the Board moves forward with these cuts.”

The UPE also said they believe the only real solution to the district’s budget crisis was negotiating health care costs and salaries for employees and addressing the district’s unfunded liabilities.

The UPE called on the district to postpone their Thursday night vote on the Fiscal Recovery Plan, where they could possibly vote to cut millions from district programs.

“UPE recommends that the Board postpone voting on the FRP to collect additional feedback from all employees and constituents,” read the letter. “These proposed cuts are so incredibly debilitating to our sites that the FRP, in its entirety, deserves more thoughtful consideration.”

The possible cuts are from positions and programs that need additional support from the district’s general fund, including $1.749 million in reductions to positions, including assistant principals, social workers and counselors, and $2.253 million in cuts to professional development and supplies.

The district could also cut more than $14 million to staff at programs and sites, including the elimination of the free IB and AP testing currently offered to students, college and career visits, transportation for non-special education students, and additional cuts to the GATE, VAPA and music programs.

“This will affect the kids and their families,” Owen said. “It will make our situation here worse. We are going to exacerbate this problem with declining enrollment. More people will leave the district.”

The Sacramento City Unified school board will meet virtually on Thursday at 6 p.m. The meeting is open to the public and can be viewed online.

This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 11:13 AM.