Sacramento Schools Tell Principals to Cut Site Budgets 10% as $174.5M Gap Looms

 

Sacramento City Unified has asked its principals to trim their school site budgets by 10 percent this school year, setting a Wednesday deadline for spending-reduction plans, according to the Sacramento Bee via EdSource. The cuts target supplies and outside contracts and cannot come from salaries, with the district setting a $2 million goal for what it calls "school-site non-personnel spending."

The district is trying to close a $174.5 million funding gap. District leaders announced last week they had reduced the gap by $49.8 million so far, the Bee reported. Alongside the cuts, the district is launching a student attendance campaign aimed at increasing average daily attendance funding, with a goal of raising revenue by $2.5 million.

If Sacramento City Unified cannot produce the money it needs to pay its bills, it will have to request help from the state Legislature by early January, since it takes about 90 days for lawmakers to pass a bill releasing emergency funds, Michael Fine of the state Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team told EdSource in August. A state emergency loan would strip the school board of its decision-making authority and make members advisers to a state or county-appointed administrator — and the superintendent is often fired immediately.

Chief Business Officer Gerardo Castillo told the Bee the reductions would come from schools' unrestricted budgets, hitting supplies and contracts paid for at the site level. The district's budget crisis reflects California's broader school funding strains, with districts statewide grappling with exhausted pandemic relief funds and declining enrollment.

Chief Business Officer Gerardo Castillo told the Bee that principals must submit their reduction plans by Wednesday, covering supplies and contracts funded from schools' unrestricted budgets. If the district cannot close the gap, it must request help from the state Legislature by early January. Under a state emergency loan, the elected school board would be stripped of decision-making authority and reduced to an advisory role, while the superintendent is often fired immediately, FCMAT chief executive Michael Fine told EdSource.

Photo: Sean MacEntee, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons