It is a turbulent time for school districts in Sacramento County.
Strikes are continuing at Twin Rivers Unified, which have entered their third week. The Natomas Teachers Association announced Wednesday night it had reached a tentative agreement with the district, and teachers would return to the classroom today.
At the same time, Sacramento City Unified is facing down a $134 million budget deficit, and has issued hundreds of layoff notices to school employees as it looks to cut costs.
Dave Gordon is the Superintendent of the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE), which provides financial oversight and support to 13 school districts including Twin Rivers, Natomas and Sacramento City Unified.
He was also formerly the Superintendent of Elk Grove Unified, and served as the Deputy State Superintendent for the California Department of Education.
Gordon spoke with Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez Tuesday about the current situations districts are navigating.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
Let’s start with Sac City Unified. This isn’t the first time in the last decade that that school district has been at risk of state takeover. Why are we here yet again?
They have gone into a serious deficit situation. The way the law works I’m responsible for our 13 districts, for overall ongoing fiscal oversight of school districts, meaning helping keep them out of financial difficulty. Sac City has extended itself to where now they’ve put out hundreds of layoff notices trying to keep their budget solvent.
Insolvency is the time at which the board would be removed, their authority would be removed if they run out of cash. And a trustee would be appointed to fill the role of the superintendent and the school board until such time as they pay off a state loan which they would need to keep functioning and keep the schools open.
How are these difficult discussions going? How confident are you that Sac City Unified will have a solvent budget?
I think it’s too early to tell. As the law dictates we have put them in what’s called a “stay and rescind status.” They can’t spend any money without our approval, and what money they spend has to be offset by something being cut. We have fiscal experts embedded in the district, but we’re not at the point yet where we can firmly pin down the depth of the deficit.
The district’s historical spending seems to balloon in 2024-25. What was behind that?
There were many grants after COVID that were one-time money. You had to be very diligent in not thinking that money would continue, and make sure to reduce your budgets when that money went away. I think that’s part of the problem, and rising costs in areas like special education.
But for now, our goal is to try to do whatever we can to help them get out of the prospect of going insolvent.
A lot of public schools received COVID relief funding which is not sustainable. Why is the situation at Sac City Unified so different?
I think what we have always tried to preach with school districts is make sure you have a level of financial discipline in your system. The ways to make sure that you’re not going to overrun your budget, keep a healthy reserve. If you’re spending new money on other programs, make sure it’s sustainable or make it a short-term program. Those kinds of things seem simple, but sometimes if you’re not used to that level of discipline, you can get out ahead of yourselves.
There’s also been declining enrollment in many districts. It’s an unpopular move to close schools, but should that be considered?
That can and should be considered, and Sac City Unified has done some of that in the past, for a longer-term strategy. But in the short run it’s just a question of not agreeing to spend money on things that are going to bust your budget.
I think in the strikes that are going on, that’s what the two districts, Twin Rivers and Natomas, are trying to fight off. The idea that they have a level of fiscal discipline where they’re unwilling to give up the ability to remain solvent in the face of being pushed to give and not worry about the consequences.
Turning now to the strikes. What’s your role as county superintendent when these are ongoing?
Several of our districts are in a difficult position, but they’re maintaining their level of fiscal discipline and they’re not spending beyond their means. That’s our role; to guide districts in doing that on a day-to-day basis, year-to-year basis.
I’m really impressed that Natomas and Twin Rivers both have put out extensive information to their constituents, the parents, and the community members on why they’re holding the line where they’re holding it, in the interest of making sure they don’t get themselves into a fiscal crisis.
Can you as county superintendent or other members of SCOE serve as a mediator during these times?
Not for the districts that are bargaining. Collective bargaining is between the district and its employees only. We’re not empowered, nor do I think we should be empowered, to intervene in that process.
There’s a fact-finding process where a neutral arbitrator looks at the situation and makes recommendations. I think in both the case of Natomas and Twin Rivers the arbitrator has recommended that they hold the line. That’s on the record, and I think that’s all been shared with the public and the parent community.
The strikes at Natomas and Twin Rivers are part of a larger pattern across the state. The California Teachers Association told CalMatters several weeks ago this is a coordinated effort. Were you aware of this?
Absolutely. They’ve called it the “We Can’t Wait” campaign. When that first started in Sacramento County they identified three districts as targets; Twin Rivers, Natomas and Sacramento City Unified.
Now Sacramento Unified has fallen off from that group because they’re now almost insolvent, and some of the things that they seem to be recommending that the other districts agree to were probably complicit in the problems that have occurred in Sac City itself.
You were previously the superintendent at Elk Grove Unified. How did you approach negotiations with unions?
We always tried to work in a collaborative fashion with all of our bargaining units. We tried to make it not an adversarial process, but a process of collaboratively exploring options, opportunities, etc. That served us well because we did not have serious labor disputes during the period that I was there, and I think that tradition has continued in Elk Grove.
Has the relationship between districts and teachers changed or evolved since you’ve been a district superintendent?
I think it’s pretty idiosyncratic to the school district. When you have one of these campaigns, usually it’s a one-size-fits-all sort of ask and push. It’s meant to get you away from whatever local processes you’ve been using to make sure you’ve been as collaborative as possible. I think that’s part of what’s occurring here.
It seems like there are these overarching challenges facing public education in the state, like declining enrollment and budget issues.
Yes, and that’s one of the reasons why we need to stick together and make sure we’re putting all of our effort and energy into making sure we’re running the best possible programs. Nobody disputes that teachers should be better paid; so many of the people in our school systems should be better paid. But we have a limit on our finances that the state gives us.
Sometimes people have forgotten that from the old Proposition 98, education gets very good treatment from the state because there’s actually a guaranteed portion of the budget dedicated to funding public education. That’s something I think works in our favor.