Sac City Unified Poised To Have New Budget, But Health Benefits And Labor Issues Remain
On Thursday, the Sacramento City Unified School District board is scheduled to approve a new budget for the next school year, but none of the parties involved are celebrating.
The district's budget proposal is $547.5 million for the coming year, but everyone is focused on the budget forecast for two years from now. If the district does not have enough money to pay its bills in future years, it faces state takeover.
SCUSD says the forecast shows it will be in the red in two years.
"We're currently looking at a $26 million structural budget deficit. That's the amount that we need to cut over the next couple of years,” said Alex Barrios, district spokesman.
But the Sacramento City Teachers Association says the district numbers can’t be trusted since the district has made several errors in its calculations.
"They were projecting a negative ending funding balance of over $54 million two years out. Now, six months later in June, they're projecting a positive ending balance two years out of almost $15 million," said David Fisher, head of the union.
Fisher says the district has another $8 million in a health care benefits fund, but the district and the Sacramento County Office of Education say touching that money is a bad idea. The county has fiscal oversight over SCUSD and says it already has $760 million in unfunded health care benefits.
The district is required by law to approve a budget and submit it to the Sacramento County CONTINUE READING: Sac City Unified Poised To Have New Budget, But Health Benefits And Labor Issues Remain - capradio.org
