Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Despite Last-Minute Changes, Senate Bill Deals Big Blow to Renewable Energy

17 hours ago

Trump-Backed Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Passes US Senate

19 hours ago

Homeland Security Secretary Noem Says CNN May Be Prosecuted Over Report on Migration App

19 hours ago

Israeli Officials to Hold Ceasefire Talks in Washington Amid Military Escalation in Gaza

20 hours ago

Trump Escalates Feud With Musk, Threatens Tesla, SpaceX Support

20 hours ago

Musk Vows to Punish Lawmakers Who Back Trump’s Spending Bill

2 days ago

Will Valadao Spoil Trump’s Plan for July 4th ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Signing?

2 days ago

Shaver Lake and Reedley 4th of July Shows Are Wednesday. Who Else Is Celebrating?

2 days ago
Walters: A Model of Mismanagement
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 6 years ago on
November 18, 2019

Share

Two years ago, with teachers in Sacramento’s school district on the verge of striking, the city’s mayor stepped in to mediate a compromise contract.
“Forty-three thousand students, parents, teachers and our entire community can breathe easy this afternoon,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg declared after the Sacramento City Unified School District and the Sacramento City Teachers Association agreed to a new contract giving teachers an 11% raise over three years.


Dan Walters
Opinion
“Let this be the beginning of a new day of partnership that puts old wounds behind,” Steinberg added, referring to long-running acrimony between the union and the district’s administration.

Teacher Raises Create Budget Imbalance

However, the ink was scarcely dry on the agreement before the district’s politics and finances began to go south again.
It was soon revealed that the salary increases would drain a reserve account set aside to pay the district’s fast-increasing pension fund payments, leaving its budget even more imbalanced. And the war of words between the union and Superintendent Jorge Aguilar resumed, becoming even bitterer.
In 2018, less than a year after Steinberg hailed the new contract, Sacramento County’s school superintendent, David Gordon, began rejecting district budgets that fell short of minimum reserve requirements.

The administration wants to reduce employee health care costs, while the union insists that spending cuts be made in the administration, citing “bureaucratic bloat.”
California’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), a sort of rescue squad for troubled school systems, also became involved in 2018, issuing a very critical report and predicting that the district would run out of cash in 11 months unless it closed a $30 million budget gap. “The fiscal risk is real, imminent, and serious, FCMAT wrote. “Without action, state intervention is certain.”
However, the labor-management acrimony escalated even further. The union staged a one-day strike last April and a state takeover of the district’s operations was averted only by a last-minute fiscal bandage.

Battle Over Spending Cuts Ensues

Sacramento City’s fundamental problems remained unaddressed and Gordon, the county superintendent, continued to reject its imbalanced budgets, most recently in October, calling again for spending reductions.
The administration wants to reduce employee health care costs, while the union insists that spending cuts be made in the administration, citing “bureaucratic bloat.”

“Unaffordable teacher benefits, however well intentioned, will impact district budgets if not addressed. Tense labor-management relations jeopardize financial stability and public confidence.”PACE Report
Sacramento is by no means the only California school district in financial and political meltdown and if it can’t resolve its issues internally, at some point the state Department of Education will take control, as it has in other troubled urban districts, such as Oakland Unified.
It’s a case study in how squabbling among adults – supposedly well-educated and well-meaning adults – undermines their basic duty to educate children, earning it a dubious distinction.

A Warning for Other School Districts

Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), a prestigious think tank created by California’s major universities, has chosen Sacramento City as a starkly negative example. Its report, issued this month, sees the district’s problems as a warning for other school systems, to wit:
“Unaffordable teacher benefits, however well intentioned, will impact district budgets if not addressed. Tense labor-management relations jeopardize financial stability and public confidence. Additional county or state authority to take corrective action may be needed to address the root causes of fiscal distress. Districts face real and unavoidable cost increases, and although money alone cannot address all the root causes of financial distress, more funding is an important part of the solution.”
“SCUSD’s fiscal crisis cannot be solved overnight,” it concludes. “Even with major fixes now, the district will be paying off liabilities for decades to come. What leaders in SCUSD can do now is stabilize the situation, steer a course toward future sustainability and success, and restore public confidence.”
There is, however, no indication that Sacramento City’s warring adults will heed the advice from FCMAT, Superintendent Gordon and now PACE.
CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary

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 Pulls Back 150 Guard Troops From Federal Duties in California

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Israel Has Agreed to Conditions to Finalize 60-Day Gaza Ceasefire

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Man Arrested for Suspected Arson Hours After Separate Wildfire

DON'T MISS

New California Environmental Rollbacks Could Boost Housing Projects in Fresno

DON'T MISS

Iran Made Preparations to Mine the Strait of Hormuz, US Sources Say

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified’s Embattled Nikki Henry Exits. ‘I Own My Mistake. I Won’t Let It Own Me.’

DON'T MISS

Trump Floats Daughter-in-Law Lara Trump for Senate Run in North Carolina

DON'T MISS

Google Hit With $314 Million US Verdict in Cellular Data Class Action

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Wildfire Prompts Advisory in Three Rivers Area

DON'T MISS

O’Brien Launches Fresno County Schools Chief Campaign by Handing Out ‘Homework’

UP NEXT

Israel Faces Genocide Accusations Amid Gaza Food Aid Killings

UP NEXT

I Detest Netanyahu, but on Some Things He’s Actually Right

UP NEXT

Much of LA’s Community of Immigrants Is Hiding, Leaving a Hole in the Fabric of the City

UP NEXT

Things Netanyahu Might Say if Injected With Truth Serum

UP NEXT

California Politicians Ignore Ag’s Troubles, but Boost Movie Business

UP NEXT

Trump’s Courageous and Correct Decision to Bomb Iran

UP NEXT

How the Attacks on Iran Are Part of a Much Bigger Global Struggle

UP NEXT

Groceries Are Now a Luxury. So Is Breathing.

UP NEXT

California Politicians Agree on School Money, but Poor Test Scores Need Attention

UP NEXT

Sen. Alex Padilla: This Is How an Administration Acts When It’s Afraid

New California Environmental Rollbacks Could Boost Housing Projects in Fresno

12 hours ago

Iran Made Preparations to Mine the Strait of Hormuz, US Sources Say

12 hours ago

Fresno Unified’s Embattled Nikki Henry Exits. ‘I Own My Mistake. I Won’t Let It Own Me.’

12 hours ago

Trump Floats Daughter-in-Law Lara Trump for Senate Run in North Carolina

13 hours ago

Google Hit With $314 Million US Verdict in Cellular Data Class Action

13 hours ago

Tulare County Wildfire Prompts Advisory in Three Rivers Area

14 hours ago

O’Brien Launches Fresno County Schools Chief Campaign by Handing Out ‘Homework’

14 hours ago

Trump Says US Could Reach Trade Deal With India, Casts Doubt on Deal With Japan

14 hours ago

Jury Reaches Verdict on Some Counts at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Sex Trafficking Trial

14 hours ago

How Wimbledon Is Tackling Its Hottest Opening on Record

14 hours ago

Trump Pulls Back 150 Guard Troops From Federal Duties in California

LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration released about 150 National Guard troops on Tuesday in the first pullback since it dispatched a milit...

11 hours ago

11 hours ago

Trump Pulls Back 150 Guard Troops From Federal Duties in California

An Israeli military convoy manoeuvres near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from Israel, July 1, 2025. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)
12 hours ago

Trump Says Israel Has Agreed to Conditions to Finalize 60-Day Gaza Ceasefire

Abel Joel Garcia Zarate, 39, of Biola, was arrested Sunday, June, 30, 2025, in Madera County on suspicion of starting a wildfire just hours after crews responded to a separate blaze sparked by farm equipment. (Madera County SO)
12 hours ago

Fresno County Man Arrested for Suspected Arson Hours After Separate Wildfire

12 hours ago

New California Environmental Rollbacks Could Boost Housing Projects in Fresno

An aerial view of the Iranian shores and the island of Qeshm in the strait of Hormuz, December 10, 2023. REUTERSStringerFile Photo
12 hours ago

Iran Made Preparations to Mine the Strait of Hormuz, US Sources Say

12 hours ago

Fresno Unified’s Embattled Nikki Henry Exits. ‘I Own My Mistake. I Won’t Let It Own Me.’

Lara Trump looks on during Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump's rally, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., November 6, 2024. (Reuters File)
13 hours ago

Trump Floats Daughter-in-Law Lara Trump for Senate Run in North Carolina

A Google logo is seen at a company research facility in Mountain View, California, U.S., May 13, 2025. (Reuters File)
13 hours ago

Google Hit With $314 Million US Verdict in Cellular Data Class Action

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

Search

Send this to a friend