{"id":460199,"date":"2026-09-11T05:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T05:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/460199\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T05:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T05:36:13","slug":"sacramento-city-unified-makes-another-deal-with-teachers-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/460199\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento City Unified makes another deal with teachers union"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Abridged version:<\/p>\n

Sacramento City Unified leaders said this week they have a path to keep the school district\u2019s budget funded \u2014 so long as the county office does not overrule their approach again.<\/p>\n

District leaders have sought the help of state Superintendent Tony Thurmond, who holds the power to step in as overseer of Sacramento City Unified.<\/p>\n

A new agreement between the district and its teachers union extends provisions from an earlier contract, with which the county office originally took issue.<\/p>\n

Sacramento City Unified leaders say they have solidified a way to fund the school district for at least the next two years.<\/p>\n

Their plan includes a new agreement with the Sacramento City Teachers Association. Last time the district struck a deal<\/a> with the union, the Sacramento County Office of Education intervened and blocked the contract<\/a>.<\/p>\n

District officials are now asking the county office to walk back that decision by next week. And if the county advisers do not support the district\u2019s approach, Sacramento City Unified is looking up the chain of command.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe respectfully ask Superintendent Thurmond and his team \u2026 to support a timely resolution of this matter,\u201d district Superintendent Cancy McArn wrote in an email to multiple employees and elected officials Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\t\tSign Up for the Homeroom Newsletter<\/p>\n

A weekly email with news and insights into Sacramento area schools and how it impacts your students.<\/p>\n

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond became involved last month in the ongoing conflict between Sacramento City Unified and its county overseers.<\/p>\n

The top state education official previously put the county office on notice, threatening to take over its authority as supervisor of the cash-strapped district.<\/p>\n

\"TonyTony Thurmond, the state superintendent of public instruction, has signaled support for a fiscal solvency plan from Sacramento City Unified School District. (FILE \u2013 AP Photo\/Denis Poroy)<\/p>\n

Terms of the new deal<\/p>\n

The first agreement with the teachers association, ratified in late July, touted almost $100 million in savings. Most of that came from temporarily shifting the funding source for retired teachers\u2019 health benefits.<\/p>\n

Instead of using money from the district\u2019s general fund, payments would come out of a special reserve fund for the next three school years. <\/p>\n

This new contract update adds another year of leaning on that trust fund.<\/p>\n

County officials had criticized the original agreement for closing bargaining with the district\u2019s largest labor union until 2030. And they raised concerns about dipping into a reserve pot of money.<\/p>\n

District officials argued that\u2019s exactly what that fund is meant for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis payment is not considered a loan and is not required to be repaid,\u201d the latest agreement states.<\/p>\n

The union deals are not the entirety of the district\u2019s plan, McArn said in her email this week. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are, however, a necessary bridge toward solvency,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey further demonstrate the progress we can make with our labor partners even when our collective bargaining agreement is closed,\u201d McArn added.<\/p>\n

\"person\"Sacramento City Unified School District superintendent Cancy McArn at the dais on July 23, 2026. (Shelley Ho)<\/p>\n

Review of the numbers<\/p>\n

District staff Thursday presented the agreement and their latest budget outlook, while reviewing an annual audit of last year\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n

At this time last year Sacramento City Unified leaders became aware of about $43 million<\/a> in unknown expenses and the larger multimillion-dollar crisis came to light.<\/p>\n

But this year, Chief Business Officer Gerardo Castillo offered a notably more optimistic report.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have work to do,\u201d he said. But, Castillo said, they are no longer expecting a negative balance at the end of this or next year.<\/p>\n

Having updated numbers to refer to and rely on has been the \u201ccrux of the issue\u201d throughout the past year, said Trustee Jasjit Singh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this provides a much more clear picture on where our budget was,\u201d he said, \u201cand provides a much better baseline on where our budget is headed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"person\"Sacramento City Unified School District board member Jasjit Singh at the dais on July 23, 2026. (Shelley Ho)<\/p>\n

\u2018Monopoly money\u2019<\/p>\n

But financial advisers said the district\u2019s projections are dubious, based on their preliminary reviews of the new financial reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re using Monopoly money,\u201d said Michael Fine, CEO of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team.<\/p>\n

He pointed to two pieces \u2014 a block grant and a portion of state funding withheld in this year\u2019s budget \u2014 which are each one-time revenues, but the district team has included in their plan as recurring sources. <\/p>\n

Fine said district staff presented both items last week during a meeting with his team, and county and state officials. <\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly was hopeful they\u2019d change that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his presentation Thursday, Castillo said even though the grants are technically one-time funds, the state has tended to provide them each year. So, staff included the items in their accounting. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it\u2019s riskier,\u201d Castillo said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Abridged version: Sacramento City Unified leaders said this week they have a path to keep the school…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-460199","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\/460199","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=460199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}