The Abridged version:
- Sacramento City Unified leaders may revive their struck-down deal with the district teachers union, with state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond in their corner.
- District officials had a minor setback when Thurmond did not overturn the county’s recission of the deal. But Thurmond endorsed the idea behind the agreement and threatened to intervene going forward.
- Sacramento County Office of Education Superintendent Dave Gordon defended his team’s oversight, saying the office does not want to see the district fall into insolvency.
Sacramento City Unified leaders lost a battle but seem to have won the state’s support in their ongoing conflict with the Sacramento County Office of Education.
Officials from the cash-strapped school district had turned to state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond after the county office blocked a new deal with the Sacramento City Teachers Association. A lauded piece of the district’s latest financial recovery plan, county officials cited concerns about long term impacts of the agreement.
Thurmond wrote Monday to say he would not be reversing that recission. While Thurmond may not have been able to accept the district’s appeal due to ambiguous legal territory, he did not specify his reasoning in the brief letter he sent to local school officials.
But what initially looked like a letdown for the school district was accompanied by a much bigger get: Thurmond in their corner.
In a second letter sent to the county office and district on Monday, the state superintendent clearly stated his endorsement for the district’s plan.
And that agreement with the teachers’ union could still be resurrected, according to school board President Tara Jeane.
“I can’t say that hasn’t come up,” she told Abridged by PBS KVIE Tuesday.
Deal ‘on pause’
District leaders have been unsatisfied with the county’s oversight and advice, Jeane said.
“It sometimes feels like they’re preparing us to go insolvent and head into receivership,” she said. “Not avoid it.”
However, they have found an advocate in Thurmond and his office.
Effective immediately, Jeane said they plan to include someone from the California Department of Education in their biweekly meetings with the county office.
“They’re keeping their eye on this,” Jeane said.
Despite having their appeal rejected, Jeane said the announcement Monday was gratifying, because Thurmond vindicated their deal with the teacher’s union. That agreement makes up about a third of their overall financial recovery plan, unveiled last month.
District officials may also bring the deal back. In that scenario, if the county office moved to again block it, Thurmond could step in beforehand.
“I’d say it’s on pause at the moment,” Jeane said of the union deal.
Not ‘something we take lightly’
County Superintendent Dave Gordon defended his office, after reading Thurmond’s letter questioning the quality of their oversight.
“We’ve put lots of time and effort into this,” Gordon said. “This isn’t something we take lightly.”
He noted the county paid for and sent in two retired budget experts earlier this year to assist the district. And his appointed fiscal advisor, Luz Cázares, has helped other districts in similar positions before, Gordon said.
“Trust me, I do not want to see the school district in my community become insolvent,” said Gordon, who has led the county office for two decades and whose two children graduated from Sacramento City Unified.
Thurmond threatens authority
Under California law, the state superintendent can intervene if they determine a county office has been lacking in their role as overseers.
This is different from state receivership. In that scenario — which Sacramento City Unified officials are racing to avoid — the school district accepts a loan from the state legislature and in turn, the county office superintendent is responsible for appointing an outside administrator.
That new de-facto leader assumes all authority, demoting the school board to advisors without voting power.
What Thurmond is threatening in his recent letter is to take over the job the county office is already doing by monitoring Sacramento City Unified — if he determines the county’s decisions are insufficient and counterproductive to fiscal solvency.
Thurmond called on both agencies to continue deliberations and offered his full support in those efforts going forward.
