District aware of $7 million per year windfall due to undercounting students on April 1,
but pushed ahead with layoffs in May and higher class sizes for students
Link Available Here to the Sacramento City Teachers Association Website Sacramento, July 25, 2019– A recently-obtained email from Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) Superintendent Jose Aguilar – in addition to those released last week – shows a growing scandal at the district.
Emails, sent in March, discovered by the Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) through a public documents request, released last week, show that the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) ignored warnings from a state of California fiscal monitor about false and misleading budget data.
An additional email, dated April 1, also discovered by SCTA, from Aguilar to Sacramento County Education Superintendent David Gordon shows that top SCUSD officials knew as early as April 1 that they had undercounted enrollment by 730 students, resulting in $7 million in additional funds available in each of the next two school years, and in subsequent years.
Despite availability of these funds, Aguilar and SCUSD officials knowingly deceived the community, including some school board members, about its financial condition. The misleading data was used to justify important decisions, including the layoff of hundreds of teachers and other school employees in May. Hundreds of teachers and staff were sent pink slips. The district refused to honor its contract with SCTA resulting in a strike by educators.
Later the district acknowledged that instead of a projected $54 million negative ending fund balance for 2020-21, it would have a surplus of $15 million—a $69 million turnaround.
In March, Mike Fine of the state of California’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team wrote in an email to SCUSD Superintendent Jorge Aguilar and board President Jessie Ryan that“[Y]our staff has again demonstrated that they don’t have the capacity or willingness to produce accurate data.” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg also was copied on the email correspondences.
Fine informed SCUSD officials in writing that he has “no confidence’ in the district’s business staff. At the time these emails were written district officials had claimed that SCUSD was on the brink of a state takeover.
The additional emails and those released last week indicate that district officials knew much earlier that the information that they were sharing with the community was not accurate.
With 40,000 students, the Sacramento City Unified School District is the 13th largest school district in California. The Sacramento City Teachers Association is an affiliate of the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association.
