ABC10 spoke with district leaders Monday about how they plan on avoiding a state takeover – and what those impacts could be to student learning.<\/p>\n
SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 The Sacramento City Unified School District is heading toward a state and county takeover if it doesn\u2019t solve a budget deficit of at least $51.6 million.<\/p>\n
District leaders say the solution will be painful, though they\u2019re doing everything they can to minimize the impact on student learning. Even the best-case scenario, however, to avoid a receivership and state takeover, will come with severe cuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe timeline is crunched. The decisions will be hard. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t up for this together,\u201d said Tara Jeane<\/a>, President of the Sacramento City Unified School District Board of Trustees. She spoke with ABC10 in an interview on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n The district is facing a deficit, for this current school year, of at least $51.6 million, according to a district report published in December, plus a deficit the year after that.<\/p>\n The exact and most updated numbers will be presented to Board members at their Thursday meeting<\/a>. The district\u2019s Chief Budget Officer resigned in November, and Jeane says a Fiscal Solvency Plan the Board passed and directed staff to follow around the same time was not fully or urgently implemented.<\/p>\n “So we’re now sitting here going, \u2018It’s February; we have to cut millions of dollars for this school year and we’re not sure what that number is – and millions for next school year and we don’t know what that number is – and we’re in the middle of budget development and the reduction in force process has a March 15th deadline,\u201d Jeane said. \u201cThe frustration and the urgency is incredibly palpable right now, I think, for everybody involved.”<\/p>\n If the district doesn\u2019t find ways to close its budget gap by the end of June, and runs out of cash and is unable to meet its financial obligations, it will need an emergency loan<\/a> from the state, which must be authorized by the Legislature. That would put them into state receivership.<\/p>\n It\u2019s something only 10 districts have done in the past 35 years<\/a>, according to the California Department of Education.<\/p>\n The Sacramento County Office of Education<\/a> (SCOE) would handle that receivership. Currently, SCOE is already helping SCUSD try to avoid becoming insolvent by providing hands-on financial advising.<\/p>\n The specific cuts aren\u2019t yet clear, but will include reassignments, furloughs, and spending freezes<\/a>. ABC10 reported on an enhanced plan that the Board passed last week.<\/p>\n Jeane says trustees need the latest deficit numbers.<\/p>\n \u201cOur number one goal is to keep cuts away from the classroom and students’ learning environments as much as possible. The reality, though, is we don’t yet have the firm number that needs to be cut this year or next year, which makes it really tough to know exactly how many cuts – and what cuts – we’re going to have to make,\u201d she said. \u201cI have a feeling it’s going to be very, very difficult because right now, the unrestricted part of our budget is 90+% in personnel, which means if you’re going to make cuts, personnel are going to get hit.”<\/p>\n Dave Gordon, Superintendent of SCOE<\/a>, wasn\u2019t available for an on-camera interview but told ABC10 in a phone conversation that closing schools is not likely to happen, since the disruption to students is huge and the savings aren\u2019t relatively that much.<\/p>\n He also said going into receivership is an extreme, worst- case scenario he and everyone involved want to avoid, in which the district superintendent would be removed, the Board of Trustees would lose their authority, and he and state leaders would agree on an appointed trustee to lead the district until it recovers financially: a process that can take years.\u00a0<\/p>\n ABC10 asked Jeane, who has served on the Board for three years, how the district got into this situation.<\/p>\n \u201cI can’t speak to where we were six years ago or 10 years ago or 20 years ago. I can speak to where we are right now. And I am convinced this is a system where no one person is at fault, and there are no excuses for where we are, but there are reasons,\u201d Jeane said. \u201cAnd by looking at those reasons and saying, \u2018How do we start changing that?\u2019 And by looking at the roles each of us play, and say, \u2018How does each one of us get better in our roles?\u2019 I believe we can work through this together.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the Board is moving forward transparently and with a data-centered approach – and sent a letter out to the school community Monday afternoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are now in a dire situation where the threat of state intervention is real, and this Board is committed to making the decisions we need on the best information we have,\u201d Jeane said.<\/p>\n The district told ABC10 in an email Monday, in part, \u201cThis coming Thursday, staff will provide the board with an update on implementing the Fiscal Solvency Plan, and we expect to show [significant] progress toward closing the deficit.\u201d<\/p>\n An interim Chief Budget Officer, plus financial advisors from SCOE, are working to provide the Board with the most accurate picture of the current deficit.<\/p>\n