By admin 
Two county education board members sent letters to State Superintendent Tony Thurmond on Thursday in support of Sacramento City Unified School District, arguing that state intervention could help the district avoid insolvency.
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The letters, sent by Harold Fong and Annie Fischer of the Sacramento County Board of Education, came as the district seeks greater state intervention in its fiscal crisis after a county office-appointed fiscal adviser rescinded a key labor agreement that has become a flashpoint in its dispute with the district.
“This request is due to the Sacramento County Office of Education’s (SCOE) ineffective assistance in resolving the SCUSD’s fiscal challenges,” Fong wrote, in a letter reviewed by The Sacramento Bee.
Fong said the rescission undermines efforts by the district and teachers union to address the district’s nearly $222 million deficit and “makes insolvency more likely, not less,” urging Thurmond to intervene immediately and grant the district’s appeal.
Newly elected member Fischer also urged Thurmond to step in and consider intervening, while cautioning that such state authority should be used “sparingly” in her letter reviewed by The Bee. Additional letters of support came Thursday from the Oakland Education Association, San Diego Education Association and United Teachers Los Angeles, urging Thurmond to intervene.
Meanwhile, Board President Mariana Sabeniano took a different approach, referring to The Bee’s request for comment to Superintendent David Gordon and saying he was “the best point of contact for Sac City Unified related issues.”
The other four board members and Gordon did not respond to The Bee’s requests for comment.
The tensions between the district and the county office boiled over last week over a new labor agreement Sacramento City Unified approved with its teachers union, which the district viewed as a substantial step toward avoiding insolvency, while the county office argued it would merely delay when the district runs out of money.
The fiscal adviser has told the district it needs to identify $150 million in cash solutions by June 2027 to avoid insolvency and a potential state takeover. That figure became the target for the district’s broader fiscal sustainability plan approved July 30, a significant part of which relied on projected savings from the teachers union agreement — meaning the rescission has put a key piece of the plan in doubt.
The stakes of state intervention
Reflecting the extraordinary nature of the dispute, the district is asking Thurmond to appoint an independent fiscal and legal review team that would not report to SCOE and assume some of the county office’s fiscal oversight power.
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Julien Lafortune, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California who focuses on education finance, said drawing down reserves may delay when the district has to balance its budget but would not resolve the underlying structural deficit.
In the meantime, he added, state intervention could shift responsibility for politically difficult cuts away from local officials, changing who are seen as making — and taking the blame for — those decisions.
“Broadly, it is a loss of (local) control,” Lafortune said.
“The state may be able to move some levers that (the district) wouldn’t be able to move on their own.”
The Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, a state-funded fiscal oversight agency, projected in May that the district could run out of cash as early as January or February.
Receiving a state loan would trigger state receivership, resulting in a far greater loss of local control as the state takes a more direct role in stabilizing the district’s finances and making the cuts needed to balance its budget.
A narrowing window
Meanwhile, with the state superintendent now being called on to resolve the dispute, Sacramento City Unified’s fiscal crisis has taken on a more political and unusual dimension, leaving state officials to sort out the scope of their authority.
Under state law, the state superintendent must uphold or deny an appeal within five days of receiving it, but it remains unclear whether that period includes weekends. The California Department of Education did not immediately respond to The Bee’s request for clarification.
If the five-day review period includes weekends, a decision on the appeal would be due Monday.
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