Sacramento passes the hat to pay for student transit rides. A city claims poverty | Opinion
The city of Sacramento is acting so broke that it cannot find $1 million in a $1.7 billion budget so that students can continue to take Regional Transit buses for free. To save the program, Mayor Darrell Steinberg wants no less than five other local governments to start contributing so the program can survive.
Trying to get six governments to agree on anything is a problem, but a rare and sudden eruption of collaboration may indeed save the RydeFreeRT program, which allows any participating student (kindergarten through high school) to ride the county’s transit system at ho cost.
But the underlying issue here isn’t the students themselves, it’s the Sacramento City Council’s misplaced priority: giving big raises to government staff first before considering the implications on the voting public.
In the unfolding RydeFreeRT saga, nobody’s hands are clean. A whole lot of government process is about to take place for a lousy million dollars.
Students found themselves on the chopping block when Sacramento City Manager Howard Chan unveiled a draft budget in April for the coming fiscal year which eliminated $1 million for RydeFreeRT, a program the city has consistently funded for five years. This is the same Chan who, back in December, recommended raises of more than 10% for city staff over two years, creating a $45 million hole in the coming budget. The healthy raises account for roughly two-thirds of the structural deficit to be closed in the coming budget.
A few weeks back, Steinberg countered with his proposal to save RydeFreeRT — mostly with other government’s money.
He wants to slash Sacramento’s support of the program by 75%, contributing only $250,000. He seeks $250,000 from Regional Transit and $500,000 from local school districts. Half is to come from the Sacramento City Unified School District, and the other half, in some yet-to-be-determined formula, would be shared by the Elk Grove, Natomas and Twin Rivers Unified school districts.
“I’m confident we will agree on a funding formula by June 11 when the city passes its final budget,” Steinberg said in an official blog post. “If an agreement cannot be finalized by that date, I will present an updated recommendation to the council.”
Meanwhile, some parents are up in arms, taking their case recently to the city council. Also angry are unions representing teachers of the various districts. They are in no mood to redirect money to go to student transportation that could be spent on their own pay.
“While it may be true that Steinberg and Sacramento City Council members have faced challenges closing the city’s $66 million shortfall, the simple fact that they are willing to take an ax to this program is providing disturbing insight into city leaders’ priorities,” wrote Mara Harvey and Nikki Milevsky in an op-ed in today’s Bee. They represent the teachers in the Natomas and Sacramento City unified school districts.
Sac City’s school board has been just as generous with staff raises as the city council. The district agreed earlier this year to 6% raises, another 2% next year and a 1.5% increase in contributions to the teachers’ health benefits.
Steinberg’s proposal does have a rationale. This RydeFreeRT program benefits many governments.
However, Sacramento City Hall created this program and its own budget problem. On Dec. 12, the council unanimously approved these big raises without discussing the financial implications of what they were about to do. It was another month before Chan told the council that the raises they had approved were “unsustainable.” And it wasn’t until April that Chan unveiled his proposal to kill RydeFreeRT.
Frankly, a city contribution of $250,000 for a program deemed widely successful seems pretty stingy. In 2022, this same mayor and city council gave Chan nearly double that amount of money in the form of 64 weeks of extra vacation. This is the same city that urged voters back in 2018 to increase the sales tax by a half-cent via Measure U, promising more youth programs and economic development. Measure U generates about $139 million annually.
There’s not any more money in there for student transit?
Hopefully, this ends well for students who have gotten accustomed to using public transportation. Some adults in power will need to truly put students first.