received the latest update<\/a> on the current year\u2019s budget\u2014and projections for next year.<\/p>\nEarlier in 2026, the district was facing insolvency and a possible state takeover. District leaders say they\u2019ve managed to avoid that\u2014and anticipate ending the fiscal year in June with $13 million cash on hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do see some light though, so let me say that,\u201d said board member Michael Benjamin.<\/p>\n
Next school year, however, is a different story, with an anticipated budget deficit in the ballpark of $200 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really heartbreaking to say we\u2019ve got to consider restructuring, which means a lot more people need layoff notices so that we have flexibility,\u201d said board president Tara Jeane.<\/p>\n
The approximately 400 positions board members approved for closure Thursday include practically everybody at the district office – the Serna Center – kicking off a restructuring plan there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really scary for me to say we\u2019re going to pink slip every single person in the Serna Center, although I understand what we are striving to work towards,\u201d board member April Ybarra said. \u201cI\u2019m still not sure what recommendations to put forth right now though.\u201d<\/p>\n
By law, the district has until March 15 every year to issue employees a preliminary notice that they could be laid off. Then they have two months \u2013 until May 15 \u2013 to make decisions and issue final layoff notices.<\/p>\n
Until then, the board and district staff will explore options to avoid as many layoffs as possible, including furloughs and temporary pay cuts.<\/p>\n
Employees at the board meeting weighed in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know personally, I would rather take a pay cut or take furlough days than to lose my job,\u201d said district librarian Tascha Weatherall. \u201cAnd I would bet that the majority of the people in this room would say the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
As she said that, many people in the room started applauding.<\/p>\n
While the final decisions aren\u2019t yet made, district leaders emphasize that even the best case scenario will still be painful, to avoid insolvency next year and \u201cget this district to a point where we can actually restructure and reassess our needs,\u201d said board member Jasjit Singh, \u201cso that we can actually build a district that runs beyond just a multi-year projection every three years so we keep having these conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jobs up for elimination run the gamut from teachers and health aides to security officers and food service employees.<\/p>\n
Garrett Kirkland, president of United Professional Educators (UPE) AFSA Local 154 AFL-CIO and principal at Hiram Johnson High School, told ABC10 Friday that 650 of the approximately 800 positions open for elimination are within his union. Nikki Davis Milevsky, president of the Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA), said her union has about 180 of the potentially eliminated positions.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there should be a lot less actual jobs lost because of vacancies and attrition like retirements and resignations,\u201d Davis Milevsky pointed out.<\/p>\n
The school board is set to meet again on March 19 to continue this difficult conversation – and these tough decisions.<\/p>\n
WATCH:\u00a0Parents question value of school days during Twin Rivers teacher strike<\/a><\/p>\n ABC10: Watch, Download, Read<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Practically all SCUSD staff at the district offices are getting pink slips, after school board approved more positions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-208414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}