By admin 
The teachers’ union’s grip on the Sacramento City Unified School District is so strong that its board members unanimously extended a lucrative bargaining agreement for two years despite facing insolvency and untold chaos for tens of thousands of students and parents.
Read more California should rethink teen access to cannabis after Davis stabbings | Opinion
This was one outrageous move too many. The Sacramento County Office of Education, with the power to veto financial moves because of the district’s financial crisis, has finally stepped in. On Friday, the office rejected this action.
The financial and political significance of this move cannot be overstated.
Financially, it forces the board, with each member owing their seats on the board to the financial support from the teachers, to stop spending and start asking the unions to be part of a real solution to avoid losing local control in a years-long insolvency process.
Politically, county schools Superintendent Dave Gordon’s action seeks to end the stranglehold on power that the unions have held over this district for many years. The district was unable to stop giving away the store. Yet finally, somebody outside the district was in a position to stop it.
“Significant work remains for the district to resolve its fiscal crisis,” Gordon said in a written statement. “In summary, SCUSD cannot solve its fiscal crisis by merely delaying it.”
On Thursday in , the board approved what at first glance appeared to be a series of actions to lower costs and shift funding sources as a way to stem, but not stop, the financial bleeding. The district started this new fiscal year with a negative fund balance of nearly $62 million and $135 million in structural overspending relative to revenues. Among the ideas are the elimination of district-issued cell phones, a largely symbolic financial move that would save only $300,000.
The teachers also agreed to shift some healthcare costs off the general fund and to another source temporarily to free up roughly $30 million in the general fund for other needs.
“If we’re having some challenges with our general fund right now, we believe that we should dip into that account and free up some money to focus on our students,” said Nikki Davis Milevsky, president of the Sacramento City Teachers Association.
Yet buried in the 85-page staff report, on page 63, was the huge giveaway. Staff was proposing to extend the teachers’ labor agreement, now set to expire in 2028, for two additional years. Even without a guaranteed new raise, the agreement significantly improves overall compensation. That’s because the teachers’ healthcare benefits are so generous and so expensive.
Read more Attendance figures dip slightly for final summertime dates of California State Fair
How many of you work for a company that pays the entire insurance premium for your health care? This has long been the holy grail of benefits for SCTA members.. And they were trying to lock it in until June 2030.
For the rest of us, health care premiums are soaring and are keeping it harder to keep financial pace with inflation in our budgets. The health care costs have been rising 6% annually, double the overall increase in labor costs. That means that many of us are sacrificing raises as employers have to use that money for health insurance.
Besides the generous health care deal, the board was effectively trying to tie the district’s own hands with this vote. If the district runs out of cash next year and is forced to accept a state loan, the county Office of Education would appoint management to oversee the district and negotiate with all unions until the loan is repaid. This move would have prevented real bargaining with the teachers for four more years. But the board could not get it past Gordon.
“The agreement would only temporarily delay SCUSD’s impending insolvency by a few weeks while also making it more difficult for the district to make a sustainable long-term fiscal recovery,” Gordon said.
It is breathtaking for a union to be asking for any new perk out of this district right now. It speaks volumes that every board member caved and thought this was somehow a good idea.
The district can appeal Gordon’s move to the California Superintendent of Public Instruction, where any appeal should fall on deaf ears. According to SCUSD, a whopping 93% of its costs are staff compensation, way over the state average of 86%. It’s not rocket science to see where board members should be looking for cost savings.
Rejecting business as usual at Sacramento City is the shot across the bow the district has long needed. And Davis is right on one important matter. The focus should be on the students. Not with empty words, but unprecedented deeds.
Read more California fast food chain named No. 1 in nation for burgers. It’s not In-N-Out