Sacramento City Unified Schools Budget Rejected Again

Updated 5:54 p.m.

The Sacramento City Unified School District still does not have an approved budget after the Sacramento County Office of Education rejected its most recent proposal this week.

It’s been a year since the county office first said no go to the district’s 2019-20 budget proposal. It hasn't come off of that position since.

The county office must first approve the city district’s budgets before they can be enacted. Each budget has a reserve amount in addition to what's allotted for daily expenses and purchases. 

The district budget meets requirements for this year and next, but is short $27 million in 2021-22, in part because of a labor deal that the county was against at the time.

County Superintendent Dave Gordon wrote in a letter to the district Wednesday that  “considerable progress" has been made, but rejected the city's latest proposal. Gordon also noted that the city has improved its hiring and purchasing practices because it is now following "properly-documented" procedures more often.

But, Gordon says the district still must make cuts immediately and must submit a new budget by October 8. 

The county may assign a fiscal advisor to help.

The district says it is confident continued negotiations with labor will help it meet its goals.

In a statement, the Sacramento City Teachers Association, the union representing 2,500 teachers and employees, said “sustained fiscal mismanagement” is plaguing the district.

“Revenues into the district are at an all-time high, but still the district continues to flounder,” SCTA President David Fisher said. “Curbing bureaucratic bloat doesn’t require negotiations, but it does require true leaders to put the needs of students ahead of bureaucrats.”

The SCTA held a one-day strike in April. It planned another in May before calling it off.