Sacramento City Unified advances nearly 100 layoffs as budget crisis deepens
Sacramento City Unified School District’s board voted Thursday to issue final layoff notices to nearly 100 employees who had challenged the cuts and requested hearings.
The vote stems from the district’s broader layoff plan, which included nearly 568 full-time-equivalent classified positions — a measure showing staffing hours rather than the exact number of people affected. Thursday’s resolutions listed 93 classified employees and one preschool employee set to receive final layoff notices.
The votes came as Sacramento Unified continues trying to close a roughly $170 million deficit and avoid state takeover, while the latest district update showed its fiscal outlook could still worsen next year.
“It’s really hard when we keep getting incomplete information, because that doesn’t lead to good decision-making,” board president Tara Jeane said.
One of the challenges the district has faced throughout the budget crisis is that key numbers, such as spending, budget expectations and projected savings, keep changing, leaving trustees to make major decisions with projections that are still in flux.
Nikki Milevsky, president of Sacramento City Teachers Association, shared the concern as she criticized the district’s business office and how the fiscal recovery plan still lacked details and urgency.
“How is anyone supposed to make heads or tails of the district’s budget when there is so much confusion and lack of information?” Milevsky said.
The administrative law judge who reviewed the job cuts acknowledged that SCUSD had financial grounds for the layoffs, but recommended rescinding them after finding that the district had not properly followed the required layoff process.
The board rejected the judge’s recommendations to rescind the layoffs, and approved sending the final layoff notices to the employees. The notices can still be rescinded if positions are reinstated, district officials said.
This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 7:00 AM.
