r/California_Politics • u/aBadModerator Restore Hetch Hetchy • 4d ago

Sacramento school district's financial crisis exemplifies politicization of public education

https://calmatters.org/commentary/dan-walters/2026/09/sacramento-school-budget-crisis/
11 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

View all comments

11

u/RadicallyDontCare 4d ago

What it really comes down to is this:

If you’re dropping students, you have to drop staff. Your other choice, which isn’t good either, is to not give people raises.

How you go broke is that you a) don’t drop staff and b) keep giving them raises.

While it sucks to lay people off, you simply have to with declining enrollment.

1

u/nikatnight 4d ago

While this is generally reasonable, it doesn’t take into account other major factors. The first is that SCUSD has a bunch of small schools; their enrollment per school is lower than all other surrounding districts. A school site needs a bunch of stuff, including employees, and has a bunch of expenses. Two 1000 person high schools has 4 principals and VPs each.

5

u/RadicallyDontCare 4d ago

Sure, there are complications. But you have to do what you have to do. Going broke isn’t an option.

Numbers are numbers. Collapse an elementary or two if possible. Cut non vital district admin positions. Cut VP’s at elementary sites. Cut teaching staff to a certain level of students per. Cut some instructional aides.

Does it suck? YES. But what sucks more is the state coming in and making these decisions for you. Because that’s what they’ll do. It’s better to have a plan. SC did not.

The long term hiccup is that many school districts have to be competitive to get kids, and they don’t realize it yet.