Contract killing
By Cosmo Garvin
cosmog@newsreview.com
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 About 400 teachers in the Sacramento City Unified School District just received pink slips; other brutal cuts lie ahead. Should the district really be spending millions on contracts for education consultants? ILLUSTRATION BY JAMES O’BRIEN |
Another year, another round of pink slips at Sacramento City Unified schools. About 400 teachers have been told they may not return to their jobs next year—pending the outcome of the budget wrangling at both the state and the local level.
Other brutal cuts lie ahead. Under the worst-case scenario, class sizes might be increased, sports programs would be eliminated, adult education would be zeroed out and school-bus transportation for those few students who get it now would be lost, too. Some school officials are even quietly talking about the possibility of a shortened school year.
But there may be some fat yet to trim in the form tens of millions of dollars the district spends on contracts for education consultants and other professional services.
It’s a part of the budget that gets little public scrutiny and that even elected school board members have trouble navigating. And some argue that it’s these consultants, not