Sacramento school financial officer under investigation for fiscal mismanagement
Follow up story published April 30, 2026: Investigation clears Sac City staffer of fiscal mismanagement allegations
Sacramento City Unified School District is investigating one of its top financial officers following allegations of fiscal mismanagement made by an anonymous group within her department.
The whistleblowers allege that Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Cindy Tao engaged in several unscrupulous practices, including presenting incomplete budgetary information to the district board, hiring outside consultants to perform duties in her job description and hiring or promoting friends in roles they are unqualified to perform. Reached by email on Wednesday, Tao called those allegations “absolutely false.”
The allegations are detailed in a Tuesday email sent to district trustees and union leaders. The letter writers, who wrote that they chose anonymity due to “persistent and credible fears of retaliation,” escalated the matter to the board because of what they characterized as district leadership’s failure to sufficiently address the issue.
“Fiscal oversight cannot function effectively if the District’s primary financial department is led by an individual whose actions repeatedly conflict with Board direction, Superintendent authority, and basic standards of transparency,” the group wrote. “When financial information is incomplete or selectively presented, the Board’s ability to exercise its fiduciary duty is compromised.”
They went on to say that inaction increases the risk that financial issues remain hidden until they “result in audit findings, fiscal intervention, labor disputes, or irreversible financial harm.”
A source in contact with the group but unauthorized to speak about the investigation confirmed that the whistleblowers are employed in the district’s business services department.
District spokesperson Brian Heap confirmed that the district hired a third-party firm in November to investigate claims that Tao has been engaging in misconduct. The investigation is ongoing. He also said that there was already an open internal investigation into Tao in response to allegations concerning the work environment in her department. Tao remains in her position as the investigation continues.
The Sacramento Bee sent Tao the whistleblowers’ email, which she said she was seeing for the first time.
“This is absolutely false and this is defamation,” she wrote. “This is my first time reading these allegations.”
Tao has been working within the district’s business offices in various roles since December 2022, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has held the assistant superintendent role first in an interim and later in a permanent capacity starting in June 2024.
The investigation comes as the district was deemed at “high risk” of insolvency and faces a deficit that could put them $125 million in the red within the next few years if not corrected. The massive shortfall means an immediate spending freeze, cuts along all district departments and laying off around 70 administrators at the Serna Center.
Compounding the district’s financial woes is the loss of Janea Marking, the district’s former Chief Business Officer, who left her position last month. Her interim replacement Lisa Grant-Dawson recently resigned from Oakland Unified School District, which is also staving off a massive budget shortfall.
Allegations
The anonymous group claims that Tao knowingly presented an adopted budget to the board that did not accurately reflect the district’s true financial condition, impairing the board’s ability to make informed decisions about the budget.
The board approved an agreement with the teachers union in September before seeing a report that revealed a significant structural deficit, a situation the group says could have been avoided if the adopted budget transparently reflected the fiscal crisis known to Tao at the time.
Tao has expended more on consultant and contractor services than in any prior fiscal year, the whistleblowers say, alleging that $1.8 million was paid to external consultants performing functions that “fall squarely within Ms. Tao’s assigned responsibilities.” At least one of these consultants has a previous professional relationship with Tao, they wrote. One hired consultant is allegedly being paid $175 an hour for work that was performed by the person who held Tao’s job before her.
“Rather than providing temporary advisory support or specialized expertise, consultants are performing routine operational and managerial duties across Accounting, Payroll, Budget, and executive functions, often working alongside permanent staff,” the letter reads. “This has resulted in duplicative costs rather than sustainable capacity-building, effectively requiring the District to pay twice for the same work.
The anonymous group also points to staffing decisions made by Tao in which she allegedly put friends into roles that they were unqualified to perform. They say that Paola Lopez, a personal associate of Tao’s, was promoted to the position of accounting manager despite a lack of relevant experience, and that she was subsequently reclassified to a lower role. A December 2024 staff organizational chart corroborates that Lopez once held the Interim Accounting Manager role. Heap confirmed that Lopez is now an Accounts Payable Supervisor.
The letter details other claims of favoritism and disregard for recent board directives to curb spending, like attempting to hire for vacant positions and authorizing overtime expenditures despite the hiring and overtime freeze enacted in the board approved fiscal solvency plan.
“Collectively, these actions raise serious concerns regarding minimum qualification standards, favoritism, misrepresentation of roles, improper delegation of financial authority, and a breakdown in professional, ethical, and internal control standards,” the letter reads.
This story was originally published January 8, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
