The Abridged version:<\/p>\n
The Sacramento City Unified School District stands to gain millions from Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s latest budget proposal. That alone will not resolve their multimillion-dollar budget crisis, officials said.<\/p>\n
School board members have approved deep budget cuts and hundreds of anticipated layoffs to avoid state receivership.<\/p>\n
The district\u2019s interim chief business officer said her team continues to look for ways to cut costs and boost revenue. However, a state loan \u201cdoes seem like it\u2019s inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sacramento City Unified School District remains in hot water financially, despite some hope that recent gains in the proposed state budget would buoy the cash-strapped district.<\/p>\n
Gov. Gavin Newsom included multiple boons for public schools, including a bump in special education funding, in his latest plan for the state budget unveiled earlier this month.<\/p>\n
However, he continued to withhold billions in base funding, a decision that education leaders across the state have decried.<\/p>\n
Whatever net gains are tucked inside the 2026-27 budget \u2014 which will be finalized later this summer \u2014 are not enough to singlehandedly pull Sacramento City Unified out of its multimillion-dollar budget crisis, officials say.<\/p>\n
What did Newsom add? <\/p>\n
The new budget draft, known as the May revision, contained \u201ca lot of good news\u201d for schools, according to Leilani Aguinaldo, director of governmental relations for School Services of California, a consulting firm.<\/p>\n
That includes a higher percentage of state funds per student. Some of that extra money is meant to help with a new requirement that districts offer employees up to 14 weeks of paid pregnancy leave. <\/p>\n
In all, Sacramento City Unified could receive about $15 million more in general funds, $14 million extra to special education and about $36 million in one-time grant money.<\/p>\n
And what\u2019s still withheld?<\/p>\n
Newsom at the start of the year had proposed pulling out about $5.6 billion from public education funding, with a promise to pay out that sum next year. In May, he whittled that withholding down to $3.9 billion.<\/p>\n
For Sacramento City Unified that translates to a shortchange of roughly $20.9 million.<\/p>\n
Budget cuts still needed<\/p>\n
Added revenue from the state definitely helps the Sacramento school district, said interim Chief Business Officer Lisa Grant-Dawson.<\/p>\n