Sacramento City Unified School District leaders say the district’s financial outlook has worsened, with this school year’s budget deficit now larger than the $43 million shortfall reported late last year.
District officials are racing to avoid a state takeover as the school board moves forward with layoffs, spending freezes and furloughs aimed at closing the growing gap. Board members say a solvency plan approved months ago was never fully carried out, leaving the district with limited time to act.
Sacramento City Unified Board of Trustees member Taylor Kayatta said avoiding state receivership is a priority because of the impact it would have on students and the broader community.
“We will do anything we can to avoid receivership because it will be absolutely terrible for our community. It will hit our most needy students the most and that is something we will draw the line,” said Kayatta.
Board members said the solvency plan approved in November was not fully implemented and that the board received incomplete updates from district staff. Kayatta said frustration has been building among trustees.
“I would just say it’s frustration from the entire board. We provided clear direction and it wasn’t being implemented by the staff,” said Kayatta.
Thursday night, the board unanimously approved Kayatta’s more aggressive cost-cutting measures. The actions include reassigning or laying off administrators until reaching a 270 employee level, freezing most supply purchases for the remainder of the school year, pausing professional service contracts not directly tied to students and furloughing non-union staff for 12 days before May 30.
“We unfortunately have to do that because we really need to stop spending money,” said Kayatta.
The Sacramento City Teachers’ Association said it is okay with the measures passed, particularly the freezing of supply purchases, noting those purchases can be approved on a case-by-case basis by the superintendent.
SCTA President Nikki Davis-Milevsky criticized the presentation district staff gave to the board.
“The presentation that district staff gave to the school board was very disturbing. It would be a joke if it wasn’t funny,” said Davis-Milevsky.
She said there are additional ways to cut costs without harming classrooms and said frustration was shared by both trustees and community members.
“It was frustrating for the school board. It was frustrating for those in the audience that care about our district the way teachers do,” said Davis-Milevsky.
In a statement to ABC10, the district said “There is a lot of frustration and disappointment within our system right now — from both the board of education and staff — at the pace of progress toward reaching our fiscal solvency goals.”
The district said it remains committed to avoiding state receivership and maintaining local control while minimizing impacts on students.
Kayatta says an updated financial numbers is expected to be released February 5th, when the exact size of the deficit will be known.
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