When budget cuts menaced San Diego Unified last spring, the school board struck a tit-for-tat deal to get out of the hole. Employees agreed to take furloughs that shortened the school year by five days and cut their pay for two years. After that, San Diego Unified would gradually increase their pay roughly 7 percent.
The tradeoff for workers from custodians to principals was clear: Take a cut now but get more money later. It hinged on the hope that school funding would start to recover before the raises went into effect.
Now, less than a year and a half later, school board members who struck the deal are seeking to amend it, saying they fear the district's financial situation could be worse than they'd hoped. San Diego Unified is pressing its unions to put off those raises as it projects future shortfalls ranging from $25 million to $97 million. The board believes it could afford to cancel hundreds of layoffs if it delays the raises.
More than half of student governments at San Diego Unified middle and high schools that were checked by outside auditors don't keep adequate records for receiving cash, according to a preliminary audit.
When outside auditors checked on more than two dozen schools, they found that middle and high school student governments often lacked receipts or other documents to ensure the money was accounted for. Heather Daud, audit supervisor at Christy White Accountancy, said the school clerks know the rules, but often have trouble ensuring that other people follow them.
"People are handing them money without proper backup," Daud told a school district committee.