Sacramento Unified School District on Verge of Insolvency While Super Takes $35K Junket to Harvard
District refuses to cut admin staff
Sacramento City Unified School District is teetering on insolvency. And now the Sacramento City Teachers Association has voted to authorize a strike, demanding salary increases to deal with the surging cost of living in California’s urban centers, the Bond Buyer reported. But it appears that this strike is more of an attention-getting move with a tone-deaf district.
The district is under the threat of state takeover as it wrestles with a $35 million budget gap.
Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) requested an audit of the district citing a “leadership issue” as the cause of the crisis, which ballooned after a 2017 deal with the teachers union for salary increases “that the district acknowledged were not affordable without significant budget reductions.” The Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved the audit performed by California’s State Auditor Elaine Howle.
“McCarty said that in addition to a financial analysis by the state auditor, he wanted to know: ‘What were the district’s key actions that caused the crisis? Who made these decisions? Why were these decisions made?’” the Sacramento Bee reported.
California Globe contacted McCarty’s office to discuss the audit request with him, but did not receive a call back by publication.
Notably, McCarty is married to Sacramento City Unified Board member Leticia Garcia, “a longtime ally of teachers unions,” the Bee reported.
As all of California’s public school districts face large mandatory teacher pension contribution increases, and volatile and low revenue reserves, threats of recession will spell disaster. Additionally, throughout California, enrollment continues to significantly decline at the state’s 1,200 school districts.
Expensive Junket to Harvard
Even with these financial warning signs, after the Sacramento City School District ended the 2017-18 fiscal year with an $11 million deficit and just days after Superintendent Jorge Aguilar submitted the 2018-19 budget projecting another $22 million deficit (which was rejected CONTINUE READING: Sacramento Unified School District on Verge of Insolvency While Super Takes $35K Junket to Harvard - California Globe