Sacramento City Unified considers more budget cuts. See what could be slashed

The Sacramento City Unified School District is considering a new wave of budget cuts at its Thursday night board meeting, after spending past meetings listening to students and community members asking them to reconsider deep slashes.

The district is considering cuts to elementary school sports, funding for students’ AP and IB exams, college and career visits and seven school bus routes that affect 230 students.

Proposed cuts also include the district’s contribution of $500,000 to its preschool program, separate from the district’s Preschool Parent Participation Program. The district also proposed to reduce funding to provide social workers, counselors and after school programs. The district estimates the cuts will save more than $4.8 million.

Sacramento City Unified first considered these cuts in November, but in December, board members voted to reject the budget cuts — which originally amounted to $18 million.

The district is receiving tens of millions of dollars in federal aid, prompting some to ask why the district is calling for the cuts in February.

District officials said they must notify impacted certificated employees before March 15.

“With $124 million in new money from the federal government and more on the way with the Biden administration and more than $100 million additional dollars coming into SCUSD in Governor Newsom’s proposed state budget, SCUSD should be increasing services to students, not cutting them,” read a statement from the Sacramento City Teachers Association. “To cut services at a time when student needs are higher than ever because of the pandemic is unconscionable.”

District officials say they cannot count on state funding yet, as it has not been approved and amounts change from year to year. And the federal aid to help address COVID-19 will not address the district’s structural deficit.

“The federal aid received is restricted funding that cannot be used toward our structural deficit and is meant for addressing costs associated with mitigating the risk of COVID and preparing school sites to reopen,” read a statement from district spokesperson Tara Gallegos.

The district plans to use the federal money on school inspection and facility repairs to help reduce the risk of virus transmission, according to documents from the district.

The teachers union said the district is proposing to make cuts without an imminent financial crisis, and that the district has over-budgeted for years. The district has a $93 million reserve, and maintains that their deficit will grow over the next three years.

In September, the district and FCMAT, the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, reported millions of dollars in budget surplus, due to savings from the coronavirus pandemic and over-budgeting on the district’s part.

Ahead of the school board meeting, the district also shared potential savings it would need to negotiate with labor groups, including reducing the district’s contribution to employee health, dental and vision benefits, which could save more than $20 million.

Julie Castro, a parent of two students in the IB program at Luther Burbank High School, said she is concerned that eliminating funding to the program will cost her hundreds of dollars in the coming years. The district pays for the the final exams; if students do well, they earn college credit. Her son, a senior, would have spent more than $700 on exams had the district not paid for the assessments. But if the cuts are approved, Castro will have to spend that money on her daughter’s exams in two years.

“That’s a lot of money when these students are trying to pay for college applications,” Castro said. “A lot of these kids don’t have the finances to do that. It could keep kids from advancing and making themselves appealing to colleges.”

Castro also said she was concerned that such cuts would have a negative impact on some of the district’s most neediest children.

“When you start taking things away, you are hurting kids who already have a disadvantage,” she said. “I can’t believe they would think to do this.”

This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM.