The Sacramento County Office of Education rejected the SCUSD budget last month due to a $24 million deficit. The district expects that deficit to grow if there is no action taken. October 8th was the deadline for a revised budget or the whole district would be at risk losing state funding. The District has been talking about possible cuts to fix this deficit and be able to get a budget approved.
Teachers at McClatchy are questioning why this is happening, and some believe that none of it adds up. Because last year’s budget was approved, many are questioning how this year’s debt occurred so suddenly.
“Nobody can really explain it really with any clarity. [Teachers] still are skeptical, it makes no sense to us. Show us the money in a way that makes sense,” said Government teacher Ms. Jablonski.
Some numbers have been thrown out by the district about how much the debt actually is, but there is no clear number that is official. $30 million to $24 million have been said, but no real evidence of a solid number has been given. Teachers don’t know how much in debt the district is in.
“Show us something that actually adds up,” says Ms. Jablonski.
Meanwhile, the District hired more and more administrators in the central office that make about $100,000 a year, which leads to questions of whether that should be possible if they are in debt.
Before the District decides on making any cuts that they say are needed to get out of this debt and get their budget approved, teachers believe they need to be clear about how much money they are spending and what they are spending it on.