Report 2019-108 Recommendation 9 Responses
Report 2019-108: Sacramento City Unified School District: Because It Has Failed to Proactively Address Its Financial Challenges, It May Soon Face Insolvency (Release Date: December 2019)
Recommendation #9 To: Sacramento City Unified School District
To address its current financial problems, Sacramento Unified should do the following:
Before it imposes an agreement on its teachers union or accepts state assistance, the district should publicly disclose the likely effects that such actions will have on the district's students, faculty, and the community, and its plans to address these effects.
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2022
The district's budget has been conditionally approved and there is no plan to seek state assistance or impose terms. The district reached agreements with labor partners in 2022 and complied with all AB 1200 disclosure requirements. https://www.scusd.edu/board-education-meeting/board-education-meeting-118
SCOE 2022-23 Budget Conditional Approval Letter:
https://www.scusd.edu/sites/main/files/file-attachments/scoe_letter_9-15-22_re_2022-23_adopted_budget_report.pdf?1664386988
- Completion Date: April 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Resolved
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021
Currently, the Business Department District cannot fully implement this recommendation until negotiations and the related processes with its labor partners are exhausted. The impact of these negotiations will have to be fully evaluated thereafter in order to clearly inform the public. Accordingly, the District plans to disclose the fiscal changes to the public and its plans to address the same following its evaluation as required by through the Assembly Bill 1200, legislation passed in 1991, that defined a system of fiscal accountability for school districts and county offices of education to prevent bankruptcy. The law requires districts to do multiyear financial projections; identify sources of funding for substantial cost increases, such as employee raises; and make public the cost implications of such increases before approving employee contracts. County offices review district budgets, and the state reviews countywide school districts.
The department and staff responsible are Superintendent Aguilar and Chief Business Officer Rose Ramos.
- Estimated Completion Date: July 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending
1-Year Agency Response
The District agrees that before it would impose terms or accept state assistance it would publicly disclose the impacts of such upon District students, faculty and community and the plans to address same. It is not possible to fully implement this recommendation unless negotiations are exhausted and the impasse procedures have taken place through PERB or state assistance is triggered. The impacts of these scenarios will have to be fully evaluated at that time given the circumstances involved in order to clearly inform the public of these consequences.
- Estimated Completion Date: TBD
- Response Date: December 2020
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending
6-Month Agency Response
The District agrees that before it would impose terms or accept state assistance it would publicly disclose the impacts of such upon District students, faculty and community and the plans to address same.
- Estimated Completion Date: TBD
- Response Date: June 2020
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending
At its May 21, 2020 board meeting, a speaker from the Sacramento County Office of Education indicated that it had begun working with a state legislator to draft legislation needed for the district to accept state assistance. As of June 2020, the district has not formally requested an emergency loan from the State. In our report, we discussed the negative repercussions of accepting state assistance, including fewer funds available for student education. Therefore, before the district decides to request state assistance, the district should publicly disclose the likely effect it will have on the district's students, faculty, and the community, and the district's plans to address these effects.
60-Day Agency Response
The District agrees that before it would impose terms or accept state assistance it would publicly disclose the impacts of such upon District students, faculty and community and the plans to address same.
It is not possible to fully implement this recommendation unless negotiations are exhausted and the impasse procedures have taken place through PERB or state assistance is triggered. The impacts of these scenarios will have to be fully evaluated at that time given the circumstances involved in order to clearly inform the public of these consequences.
- Estimated Completion Date: TBD
- Response Date: February 2020
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
All Recommendations in 2019-108
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.