The Abridged version:
- The Sacramento City Unified School District is weighing multimillion-dollar budget cuts to navigate the latest major financial crisis.
- District officials say they will try to keep the cuts out of classrooms. Some parents worry that will not be possible given the scale of the problem.
- Others have raised concerns that extracurricular programs could be defunded and only available to more affluent families in the district.
Sacramento City Unified School District leaders have vowed to make every effort to shelter students from their multimillion-dollar budget crisis.
But with a slew of cuts on the table, parents remain apprehensive.
“I understand that they do need to make cuts. It’s essential because they’re in such a deficit,” said Gina Ngo, a Sacramento City Unified parent and part-time facilities staff member. “But I don’t know, the transparency is kind of like, a little blurry.”
District staff revealed in September a $43 million shortfall from last year’s expenses. But officials said the discovery just added to what was already a precarious fiscal reality.
Without corrections, Sacramento City Unified will run out of cash by the end of this spring semester.
Trustees are scheduled to vote on a fiscal solvency plan, with cuts for this and future school years, at Thursday’s board meeting.
$50 million needed is still a ‘moving target’
Despite the district’s best intentions to keep budget cuts from directly affecting students’ everyday experience, Ngo said she worries some impacts may be inevitable.
“Whenever they cut the budget, even if they’re trying to not directly impact the classroom, it still does,” Ngo said, pointing to the district’s plan to reduce supply budgets.
Administrators are looking for about $50 million in savings this year to stay afloat, Chief Budget Officer Janea Marking has said previously.
But even that number is not firm.
“While this is a lot — and it is a lot — it is a fluid situation,” Marking told the school board at a Nov. 6 meeting. “At no point is there a final number. … It is a moving target.”
The solvency plan under consideration Thursday evening is estimated to save the district $70.7 million in 2025-26.
Careful cuts needed
If Sacramento City Unified does not reverse course soon, the district could be subject to county or state intervention.
Already, Sacramento County Office of Education Superintendent Dave Gordon has increased oversight, including the ability to rescind any action he determines would worsen the district’s financial situation. The move was in part spurred by Marking’s upcoming departure, according to a letter from Gordon to Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Lisa Allen.
“Having the county office come in, I don’t think anybody wants that,” said Katie Heidorn, parent of three Sacramento City Unified students.
Heidorn said local control is important for families. And she believes the district can reach a solution, even one that keeps the deepest cuts away from students. But leaders at Sacramento City Unified need to be intentional and thoughtful with the scalpel, she said.
“I would highly recommend they don’t cut off their nose to spite their face,” Heidorn said.
Classroom ‘adjacent’ priorities for parents
Heidorn’s priorities, she said, include resources for transitional kindergarten, in which her 4-year-old is currently enrolled and her first grader previously experienced. Top of her list are before- and after-school programs, which she said are a godsend for working parents.
The district board is currently considering eliminating certain “pay as you go” before- and after-school programs starting after this school year, as well as possible changes to TK staffing in the future.
Without certain classroom “adjacent” programs, Heidorn said Sacramento City Unified is at risk of losing families to private schools or other districts.
Among the extracurriculars being trimmed is Parent Participation Preschool, a program for 2- and 3-year-old children in which parents work in the classroom one day per week.
Nancy Rivera’s 2-year-old daughter is currently in the program. “But I had been looking forward to this even when she was like one,” Rivera said.
The board’s plan, if adopted, would reduce Parent Participation Preschool to one classroom at Tahoe Elementary School.
Rivera and others with children currently enrolled in the preschool said they would mourn its shrinking, not only for the experience it offers their children but also for the parent community the class creates.
Equity concerns loom
District staff had previously proposed cutting funding for sixth grade field trips, a possibility that raised concerns about equity — including from school board members themselves.
Without the district covering the well-known middle school trip to Sly Park in El Dorado County, individuals or parents would have likely been responsible for the costs.
“My little one wants to go to this park, I’ll pay for it,” said Jasjit Singh, board president. “We also don’t want him to go to the park just with people who could afford it.”
District staff removed the field trip from the list of funding cuts.
Not a new problem for Sacramento City
Ngo, who works part-time at Pony Express Elementary School, has a long history with Sacramento City Unified.
Her parents both retired from the district after long careers as custodians there. Her children — a sophomore, freshman, seventh grader and first grader — now attend school in the same district Ngo grew up in and graduated from.
“I’ve been stuck with this district forever,” she joked.
Financial instability at Sacramento City Unified, Ngo said, feels all too familiar.
“I’ve been worried for a long time,” she said.
Savannah Kuchar is a reporter covering education. She came to Sacramento to be a part of the Abridged team and contribute to a crucial local news source.