Gut check: You have a map to fix Sac City school budget, can you handle the bumpy ride?
Can the largest public school system in Sacramento be saved?
Who knows? Because the way to save the Sacramento City Unified School District requires actual political courage from politicians, business leaders, community leaders and parents.
So far, all of those groups have been AWOL even though everybody knows why SCUSD might run out of money. It’s no mystery, yet Sacramento is afraid of saying it out loud because people are afraid of being called “anti-union” and “anti-teacher.”
What’s the truth everyone is afraid to confront?
The district pays way too much in salaries and lifetime benefits to teachers. The district gave teaches big raises in 2017 that it could not afford, raises that should not have been given. There are other reasons, too – the district spends a ton on special education, for example. But the salary and benefits and the district’s bulging pension liabilities are the biggest threats to the future educations of 41,000 kids.
If you don’t believe this or refuse to believe it, that’s OK. You’re in good company. And you are likely either motivated by a political climate controlled by the local teachers union, or you just haven’t paid attention or the whole thing is too unpleasant and you don’t want to face it. Or maybe you’re afraid of disagreeing with the teachers you love.
I love them, too. I’m an SCUSD parent and my teachers are great – this is not about denying what they deserve for their wonderful work. My teachers are helping my children be good citizens, and I love them for it, but we need to add a layer of complexity and honesty to this conversation or our district will fall into insolvency.
Just last week, the state released an audit of the district and its conclusions were this: The district must make major cuts or it will run out of money in 2021. This conclusion is found in a comprehensive 66-page report authored by California state auditor Elaine Howle. It is a remarkable document.
It puts the interests of kids first and points the finger at the district and the teachers union to figure out a solution or risk being taken over by the state. Howle’s report makes clear recommendations that, if followed, will keep the district afloat without gutting programs for kids, closing schools, eliminating transportation and other cherished programs that would have to be cut if the district and the teachers union cannot get together.
Help the students
I’ve written too many words on the impasse between SCUSD and the Sacramento City Teachers Association, but no more. I’m done. We need to save our district by embracing the recommendations in Howle’s report.
Sacramento needs to stop looking at this as a “pro-district/anti-teacher” or a “pro-teacher/anti-district” fight.
Sacramento needs to embrace whatever is best for kids.
And what is best for kids is preventing a statewide takeover of SCUSD or preventing large cuts to programs such as sports and music because Sacramento didn’t have the political nerve to deal with the real problem as spelled out by the state of California.
According to Howle’s audit, SCUSD has the highest average salary of any school district in the region at $91,250. And when health benefits are added, it has the highest overall compensation than any other district in the region by far at an average of $119, 036.
From Howle’s audit: “As we indicate previously, Sacramento Unified offers its teachers generous and costly health care benefits. In fact ... one of the plans Sacramento Unified offers is among the costliest in the State.”
And: “Sacramento Unified offers two health plan options to its teachers and pays the full cost of either plan for employees and their families. In comparison, other nearby districts generally limit the amount that they pay to the cost of the least expensive plan, pay the full cost only for employees, or cover only 80 percent of the least expensive health plan’s costs for employees and their families. “
The key words there: SCUSD pays the full cost of health care benefits to employees and their families.
What’s key to know here is that according to Howle’s audit, SCUSD has received repeated warnings about sky-high health care costs since 2003, a full 14 years before current Superintendent Jorge Aguilar moved to Sacramento from Fresno.
Aguilar was criticized in Howle’s audit for not making cuts to balance district books after giving raises to teachers that the district couldn’t afford. Aguilar was a rookie superintendent who had just arrived in Sacramento when he faced a teachers strike. He bowed to public pressure and agreed to a deal brokered by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg that averted a strike for a moment but exacerbated the problem the district faces now.
It’s too late to say that Aguilar should have let teachers go on strike. Or that Steinberg’s deal represents a glaring failure in his first term as mayor that has been marked by successes on many fronts. These are true statements and perhaps Aguilar and Steinberg should explain this to parents confused by why SCUSD is up against it financially. Steinberg would lose nothing politically. He’s a huge success as mayor and looks to run for second term without serious opposition.
Aguilar and Steinberg shouldn’t have been so eager to bow to public pressure but their decision is part of what ails SCUSD – an inability by leaders to embrace the truth and make hard decisions accordingly.
Aguilar is trying to do that now. He was criticized for not making alternate cuts to pay for raises, and is holding firm that health costs need to be controlled. And that the savings from health care reductions need to plug budget holes. SCTA has said the savings should go toward hiring more teachers, counselors, etc.
Without the two sides agreeing to bargain on this point, Aguilar would be forced to make cuts that would hurt kids, an action he won’t take.
“You’re basically looking at cutting after school programs, that’s no good for kids,” Aguilar said. “We would have had to have cut athletics. You can cut athletics, but if you don’t consider the corresponding impacts, then (parents won’t) want to go to that school district. We don’t have sufficient amounts of arts and music, so you have to cut arts and music programs. “
Audit recommendations
And even though Howle’s audit criticized Aguilar for not having a Plan B if teachers refuse to negotiate with the district to find savings, the audit acknowledged that closing schools, eliminating transportation or finding other painful cuts necessary if salary and benefits are not adjusted would hurt district enrollment and would mean the district would receive less state funding.
That’s why Howle’s recommendations for saving the district should be followed. They call for adults to share the pain for the sake of the kids in the district.
▪ Howle estimates that the district could save almost $7 million if all district salaries were cut by 2 percent.
▪ Nearly $10 million could be saved if all employees pay 3.5 percent toward retiree health benefits.
▪ Nearly $16 million if caps were placed on employee-only health care plans and family plans.
Howle also recommended that the legislature create laws that block districts such as SCUSD from making financial commitments they can’t afford.
Who is accountable?
The question now is: Will anybody support Howle’s recommendations? What do you say, Mayor Steinberg? Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, who should be praised for asking for this audit, has already said he wants to craft legislation to keep SCUSD messes from happening in the future. That’s great, but what about the crisis facing the district now?
Will McCarty support and push for Howle’s pay cuts and benefit caps? How about leaders such as County Supervisor Phil Serna and City Councilman Eric Guerra? Most of the kids in SCUSD are black and Latino, so how about City Councilmen Larry Carr, Rick Jennings, and Allen Warren?
Where is the business community? Amanda Blackwood, president and CEO of the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce – will she and her group endorse Howle’s recommendations?
How about Barry Broome, president and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council? Where is Cathy Rodriguez and the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce? Where is Cassandra Jennings and the Greater Sacramento Urban League?
What do you say, Sacramento? Are we willing to push for adults to do something hard for the benefit of our kids?
Or are we going to keep pretending that the crisis facing our kids is really about something else? Howle made it easy for us, laid out a clear road map.
Whether we follow it will say what kind of community we really are.
