Sac City Unified’s budget faces rejection – again. But surprise savings brighten the outlook
The financially troubled Sacramento City Unified School District will wrap up the school year with yet another disapproved budget, according to its business office.
But the school board also heard hopeful news at its meeting Thursday night, as Jacquie Canfield, the district’s contracted budget consultant, surprised many attendees by saying she had identified more than $5 million in savings after combing through the budget, correcting errors and eliminating funds that had been going unspent.
While the official budget report has yet to be submitted to the Sacramento County Office of Education, Canfield said it will be rejected despite recent cuts.
The district has already had its budget disapproved twice since August and has been under threat of a state takeover as it expected to run out of cash this fall. However, it recently announced it had temporarily dodged receivership by making cuts and using reserve funds to cover the remaining shortfall. Insolvency is now expected in October 2020, according to county schools Superintendent David Gordon.
Despite news of the pending budget rejection, the tone of Thursday’s board meeting was notably calmer than in recent months as Canfield went line by line identifying existing funds she had found in the budget that would help save programs that were destined for the chopping block.
Canfield said the district had overbudgeted and allocated money to expenses that were not used. Canfield, who started working on the budget in April after Chief Business Officer John Quinto’s resignation, combed through several of the thousands of budget lines, finding $5.3 million in savings.
“There is revenue we recognized that we built in the budget,” said board member Lisa Murawski.
For example, Canfield said, the district has long overbudgeted for 120 school bus drivers when it CONTINUE READING: Sacramento City Unified’s budget will be disapproved | The Sacramento Bee
