Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Why California Should Close Failing School Districts
Joe-Mathews
By Joe Mathews
Published 6 years ago on
August 17, 2019

Share

School has begun for the 40,000-plus students of Sweetwater Union High School District. But the district’s crisis never ends.
Sweetwater rarely makes the statewide news, but it’s California’s largest secondary school district. Sweetwater’s high schools and middle schools serve oft-forgotten communities near the U.S.-Mexico border—Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, National City, and San Ysidro.

Portrait of Joe Mathews
Joe Mathews
Opinion
While some kids succeed in Sweetwater schools, this border district flunks the basics of school administration, with phony budgets, questionable borrowing, and unsustainable union giveaways that now threaten student services and teachers’ jobs. Indeed, Sweetwater’s record is so egregious that it should make California rethink how it intervenes with failing local governments.
Sweetwater is emblematic of a diverse, struggling California—87 percent of its students are racial or ethnic minorities and  40 percent qualify for free and reduced lunch. But the district’s finances also make it an emblem; California school districts are in fiscal peril despite a strong economy and record state revenues because of exploding expenses for employee and retiree benefits. In Sweetwater, income has risen a healthy 37 percent in the past five years—but benefits costs, including pensions, have doubled over the same period.

Sweetwater Has Drawn Scrutiny for Questionable Decision-Making

But Sweetwater’s problems run even deeper than those of other districts, for reasons Californians should find profoundly unsettling. Sweetwater’s mismanagement—including corruption and incompetent budgeting—has gone on for so long that it begs the question of other school districts are hiding similar problems.
Sweetwater was founded in 1920 to fund modern local high schools for children living amongst the lemon groves of southwest San Diego County. But the area grew, through industry, military expansion, and housing development. Today, Chula Vista—where the district is headquartered—is California’s 15th most populous city, with 271,000 residents. Sweetwater now has 30 campuses, including 14 high schools.
But the larger district has struggled to manage itself. For the past two decades, Sweetwater has drawn scrutiny for questionable decision-making. A series of property transactions during the 2000s  went south. Earlier in this decade, a bribery scandal resulted in charges against some district leaders; superintendent Jesus Gandara went to jail.
A 2014 election produced a new, supposedly reformist school board. But  they have made little progress. In 2015, the state warned the board of future budget problems, to no avail. Instead, the district ramped up hiring of central office staff, and granted union employees across-the-board raises.

Sweetwater Long Has Been Mismanaged

Last year, the county effectively took over fiscal control of the district. And the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), which intervenes in troubled school districts produced a report showing that Sweetwater’s budget had 302 false entries, suggesting fraud.

For four months during the 2017-2018 school year, the district reported payroll spending of $0; the district paid bills through legally dubious borrowing from its construction funds. As a result, the district spent tens of millions of dollars more than it reported, leaving it in debt.
For four months during the 2017-2018 school year, the district reported payroll spending of $0; the district paid bills through legally dubious borrowing from its construction funds. As a result, the district spent tens of millions of dollars more than it reported, leaving it in debt.
To read the FCMAT report is to understand that the district is not merely broke, but also unable to manage itself. The notion that it can dig itself out of the current hole is ridiculous.
Rather than grapple forthrightly with the problem, the district’s leaders—in administration, on the board, and in its powerful teacher’s union—offer increasingly pitiful defenses. The most pitiful one, offered by district officials and union leaders, is this:  Sweetwater has been mismanaged for so long that it’s somehow unfair to hold today’s district officials accountable for its current crisis.

There Is a Better, Permanent Solution

Sweetwater’s case suggests that California’s approach to failing districts should be more aggressive. On its current path, Sweetwater will endure years of cuts to schools as the county and the state, perhaps through a larger takeover, tries to remake the district administration.  But there is no guarantee that Sweetwater will be any better managed after these interventions. And why bother spending precious time fixing a district administration that has failed for so long?
There is a better — and permanent — solution: the state should eliminate Sweetwater as a separate district.
The district could be used to establish a new procedure: a death penalty for local government entities that can’t manage themselves. In a state with thousands of local governments, many of which struggle with basic management, a process of closure and consolidation is desperately needed.
Sweetwater’s schools and students would be reassigned to districts with more administrative capacity to support them.  The natural landing point for Sweetwater schools would be San Diego Unified, since Sweetwater already serves some communities in the city of San Diego. Such a switch would make education in the Sweetwater Valley the responsibility of all of greater San Diego.
This would require politically difficult local action and state legislation.  But Sweetwater is one border crisis that the state of California can’t blame on President Trump, and has the power to solve itself.
About the Author
Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square.
[activecampaign form=31]

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump Turns to US Supreme Court in Bid to Strip Protected Status From Venezuelan Migrants

DON'T MISS

Fresno’s Audra McDonald Earns 11th Tony Nomination, Eyes Record Seventh Win for ‘Gypsy’

DON'T MISS

US Imposes Sanctions on Mexican Fuel Theft Network It Links to CJNG Cartel

DON'T MISS

Last Chevron-Chartered Vessel Starts to Return Oil Cargo in Venezuela, Data and Source Say

DON'T MISS

At Least 9 Dead in Drone Strikes After US and Ukraine Sign Minerals Deal

DON'T MISS

New CIA Videos Aim to Lure Chinese Officials

DON'T MISS

Trump Taps Waltz for US Ambassador to the United Nations

DON'T MISS

Fresno Authorities Work Together to Safely Rescue Individual from Overpass

DON'T MISS

Brazilian Nun Who Was the World’s Oldest Person Has Died at 116

DON'T MISS

California Teachers Association Organizes Statewide Protest Against Trump Administration

UP NEXT

Will California Meet Newsom’s 2035 EV Deadline? It Won’t Even Hit the 2026 Target 

UP NEXT

Trump Is a Revolutionary. Will He Succeed or Fail?

UP NEXT

We Need Proof of Life for the Makeup Artist Trump Sent to El Salvador

UP NEXT

As Harris Ponders Run for CA Governor, Is She Prepared for the Daunting Job?

UP NEXT

Lights, Camera, Board Vote: Fresno Unified’s Carefully Choreographed Production

UP NEXT

Given Its Failures, Can California Manage a Transition to a Carbon-Free Future?

UP NEXT

Over a Century Later, California May Need Another Revolt Against Its Utility Companies

UP NEXT

California’s Economy Was Already Sluggish Before Trump’s Global Tariffs

UP NEXT

Will Fresno Unified Sacrifice Another Generation of Students? The Choice Is Ours

UP NEXT

What if There’s No Way to Stop Trump’s Approach to Power?

Last Chevron-Chartered Vessel Starts to Return Oil Cargo in Venezuela, Data and Source Say

42 minutes ago

At Least 9 Dead in Drone Strikes After US and Ukraine Sign Minerals Deal

51 minutes ago

New CIA Videos Aim to Lure Chinese Officials

1 hour ago

Trump Taps Waltz for US Ambassador to the United Nations

2 hours ago

Fresno Authorities Work Together to Safely Rescue Individual from Overpass

2 hours ago

Brazilian Nun Who Was the World’s Oldest Person Has Died at 116

2 hours ago

California Teachers Association Organizes Statewide Protest Against Trump Administration

3 hours ago

EPA Research in Limbo as Scientists Brace for Massive Job Cuts

3 hours ago

California’s Heavy-Duty Truck Rules Rescinded by US House

4 hours ago

Visalia Police Cite 18 Drivers in Distracted Driving Crackdown

5 hours ago

Trump Turns to US Supreme Court in Bid to Strip Protected Status From Venezuelan Migrants

(Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to intervene in its bid to strip te...

12 minutes ago

An aerial view shows Diover Millan of Venezuela, top left, and other detainees at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility, the facility where Venezuelans at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling are held, in Anson, Texas, U.S., April 23, 2025. (REUTERS/Daniel Cole/File Photo)
12 minutes ago

Trump Turns to US Supreme Court in Bid to Strip Protected Status From Venezuelan Migrants

Fresno’s Audra McDonald, already the most decorated performer in Tony history, is nominated for a record-breaking seventh award for her role in the “Gypsy” revival. (Shutterstock)
20 minutes ago

Fresno’s Audra McDonald Earns 11th Tony Nomination, Eyes Record Seventh Win for ‘Gypsy’

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attends a cabinet meeting held by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 30, 2025. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo)
40 minutes ago

US Imposes Sanctions on Mexican Fuel Theft Network It Links to CJNG Cartel

The logo of Chevron is seen at the company's office in Caracas, Venezuela April 25, 2018. (REUTERS/Marco Bello/ File Photo)
42 minutes ago

Last Chevron-Chartered Vessel Starts to Return Oil Cargo in Venezuela, Data and Source Say

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire at an apartment house following Russia's air raid in Odesa, Ukraine, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
51 minutes ago

At Least 9 Dead in Drone Strikes After US and Ukraine Sign Minerals Deal

A security officer keeps watch during the second plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China March 7, 2025. (REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo)
1 hour ago

New CIA Videos Aim to Lure Chinese Officials

U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz attends a presentation of the Commander-in-Chief trophy to the U.S. Navy Midshipmen football team of the United States Naval Academy by U.S. President Donald Trump, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 15, 2025. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo)
2 hours ago

Trump Taps Waltz for US Ambassador to the United Nations

Fresno first responders successfully rescued an individual from the Hwy 99/Clinton Ave. overpass Thursday, April 1, 2025, bringing them to safety without injury. (Fresno FD)
2 hours ago

Fresno Authorities Work Together to Safely Rescue Individual from Overpass

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend