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Sac City Unified asks state superintendent to intervene in budget crisis 15%
By Sally Longenecker0%
8/4/2026, 5:00:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 13 faulty reasoning types, including In-Group Bias, Optimism Bias, and Self-Serving Bias, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 14.8% saturation with 116 hits. Analysis detected 504 faulty-reasoning hits from 783 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 25.1% and a BS Rank of 15% (23,626 of 27,739 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 85.20% of the article peer group.
The Sacramento City Unified School Board sent a letter to State Superintendent Tony Thurmond today asking him to intervene in the district’s ongoing budget infighting.
The school board has spent this year drafting and executing plans to dig out of a budget shortfall of $150 million, or $220 million—depending on who you ask.
Last week the board approved an agreement with Sacramento City Teachers Association that the board said addresses the “$150 million solvency objective.”
It included a provision that would allow the district to tap a trust fund set up for teacher retiree benefits.
Currently, the district is paying retiree benefits through its general fund.
The new agreement with the union would allow the district to pull retiree money from the trust fund instead—which has $160 million.
This move is expected to provide $98 million in cash flow over the next three years, the district said.
The plan would “stabilize district cash flow, prevent insolvency, reduce ongoing expenditures and establish a path toward long term financial stability,” according to a district statement.
The following day, the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) rejected the board’s plan, arguing it relied on short-term loans and redirected funds to fill the $221.8 million gap instead of reducing or eliminating services.
“The agreement was to redirect assets from one account to another,” SCOE wrote in a statement.
“Taking assets from the trust fund will cost more over time.”
The district disputes that this will cost additional money.
School Board President Tara Jeane said she was “disappointed and incredibly baffled” by the decision.
She said she thought last week they had met the goal post that was laid out to them.
“To find out that no, it wasn’t what was expected, was incredibly disappointing,” Jeane said.
Teachers Association President Nikki Davis Milesky said the union has been frustrated with the county's lack of transparency on budget projections and a lack of ability to answer the school board’s questions.
“They have been helping our district for about eight months, and we have found them not to be very much help at all,” Davis Milevsky said.
“We worked hard to come up with our own very solid budget solutions, and instead of allowing our district to save money in that way and redirect our funds, they are committed to send us to receivership.”
SCOE did not immediately respond to CapRadio’s request for comment, but in its statement said the county is taking action to protect students and employees and that the board “cannot solve its fiscal crisis by merely delaying it.”
Jeane and her colleagues are now asking the state’s top education official to weigh in.
In a letter sent to State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Wednesday, the board asked him to either deem the county education office ineffective at helping solve the crisis or at least let the district appeal the county’s decision.
The district’s letter claims that using money from the retirement trust fund is “not a short term loan with a repayment deadline.
Rather, it is an agreement, grounded in a mutual recognition that these funds can address.”
In an email, Thurmond’s office confirmed receiving the letter and said he is, “actively engaged in conflict resolution with the parties and has requested that they appear in his office on Thursday.”
Jeane, the school board president, said the district is taking the information as it comes, and that it’s not out of the woods yet when it comes to the possibility of state receivership.
That would involve the state lending the district money and taking control of its finances.
Jeane said they are going to do everything in their power to maintain local control.
“We’re the experts that know what our students need,” she said.
“We’re those that live in the community and know what we need to prioritize and let go of in the short term to figure out our budget.”
State receivership of a school district can be initiated when that district reaches insolvency, essentially running out of cash to meet payroll obligations.
California’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team CEO Michael Fine told the board in May the best-case scenario is that they run out of cash by February 2027.
If this happens, 5,000 employees will go without pay.
“If cash runs out, it’s absolutely terrible,” Jeane said.
“We are determined not to let that happen.”
The board will be reviewing a revised budget and analysis in tomorrow’s meeting.
Given all the work they’ve done on the budget, Jeane said the new analysis could show the February cash flow deadline getting pushed out further.
Keyshawn Davis and Ruth Finch contributed reporting to this story.
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100%flagged-word coverageNikki Davis Milesky
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