As Sac City considers closing schools, the district may also seek more bond funds
Sacramento City Unified School District is looking to consolidate and modernize school sites and may ask voters for bond money to fund the transition.
A special board meeting Thursday night marked the first official discussion about the future of the district’s schools. The conversation is complicated but necessary as the district faces a budget crisis that projects a $390 million deficit by the end of the 2027-28 school year.
Since enrollment peaked at 55,000 students in 2001, the district has experienced steady decline due to declining birthrates and, more recently, a decreasing immigrant population. Today the district serves around 37,000 kids.
Of 72 schools, 22 operate below 50% capacity, according to a presentation from facilities administrator Chris Ralston. Collectively, 3 out of every 10 seats in the district are unfilled.
Low utilization is not the only factor to consider in a facilities plan — many school buildings are deteriorating or not well-suited to the needs of the current student population, Ralston said.
He posed the question: “What does under enrollment mean in practice?”
“It means programs are stretched thin,” he said. “It means resources are diluted. It means aging infrastructure consumes dollars that should be supporting students.”
Will Sacramento vote on a school bond in 2026?
District officials are pursuing a holistic approach to facilities planning, one where they aspire to improve programming, stabilize special education and create stronger school communities instead of traumatizing families by closing neighborhood schools without consideration for their needs.
But that is going to cost money. Ralston said in his presentation that there is no funding source to support this level of transformation.
He floated the idea of putting a bond measure on the November ballot that would ask property owners within its boundaries to help fund potential infrastructure improvements.
School bonds allow for districts to borrow large sums of money. The principal and interest of the loan is paid off through an increase in property taxes. The bonds are approved by election — districts can seek approval for bonds with either a two-thirds majority vote or a 55% majority vote that requires greater accountability measures. Most districts opt for the latter.
Sacramento City Unified most recently passed Measure D, a $543 million bond, in 2024 and the $750 million Measure H bond in 2020. The way that the bonds are structured means that the annual taxation rate that homeowners pay ($130 per $100,000 of assessed value) would stay flat. Ralston’s proposal would also keep the tax rate the same, but extend it over a longer period of time.
Many projects funded by previously passed bonds have been completed and more are underway. Three schools have been rebuilt in recent years with to bond monies, alongside many other campus modernizations. Projects have also focused on security and sustainability.
The possibility of placing a bond on the ballot is far from a certainty — trustees did not discuss placing a bond on the November ballot in depth Thursday night, instead focusing on equity issues that could come up through the consolidation process. A resolution calling for a bond ballot measure would need to be submitted by Aug. 7 this year.
In 2024 the district estimated its facilities needs through 2034 to amount to about $4.4 billion. Officials laid out a plan then to pass both a bond that year and in 2028, but given the circumstances around enrollment and the budget, the board could opt to seek the second bond this year instead.
