Sacramento teachers vote on whether to authorize strike
SCUSD still fighting to avoid bankruptcy and state takeover
SCUSD still fighting to avoid bankruptcy and state takeover
SCUSD still fighting to avoid bankruptcy and state takeover
Sacramento City teachers began voting Tuesday on whether to authorize a strike.
More than 2,800 members of the Sacramento City Teachers Association, or SCTA, will vote over the next couple of weeks.
“They made promises to students and teachers that included lowering class sizes and adding services to students,” SCTA President David Fisher said. “They need to live up to the commitments they made to students and teachers.”
The last strike was 30 years ago, in 1989.
But this time the Sacramento City Unified School District faces a $35 million budget deficit and is at risk of getting taken over by the state for the first time in district history.
“A strike would not be good for kids. A strike would not reach our goal of fiscal solvency, and I think a strike could hurt the district for decades to come,” Sacramento City School Board President Jessie Ryan said. “We have no other options. We have to do everything we can to close a $35 million structural budget deficit to ensure that we avoid a state takeover.”
The district said it has until November to come up with enough cuts -- or it will run out of cash.
“We’re not looking at creating greater division in our community because that’s only going to hurt our students,” SCUSD Superintendent Jorge Aguilar said. “Obviously, we’re following (the strike vote), but in our case, we’re going to focus on saving our schools.”
The teachers association and the school district are at odds over the last contract agreement in 2017. SCTA had enough votes at that time to authorize a strike, but it was averted.
The labor contract in disagreement is set to expire in June, which means the SCUSD and the SCTA will need to renegotiate. But talks have stalled.
“As much as I would like to, it’s going to be very difficult to undue years of mistrust. It’s what I hear everywhere I go,” Aguilar said. “There is the possibility of a neutral facilitator to speed up the process. Somebody who is neutral can tell us what are the sacrifices that we might have to look at.”
The SCUSD said it is actively working with four of the five of collective bargaining groups -- except SCTA.
“Strike isn’t going to accomplish much. There’s a finite amount of money,” said Richard Owen with the United Professional Educators. “My hope is that SCTA would join other unions and do what’s best for more than 40,000 students.”
If the district fails to close the budget deficit and runs out of cash in November, SCUSD will go into state receivership. The superintendent and school board would be let go, and the district would receive a high-interest loan to pay back to the state.
“Receivership is not a good option. It will take 10 years to get out of it and repay the money with interest,” Owen said. “Poor labor management is going to cause people to flee the district. I’m not optimistic. I’m hopeful.”
State receivership has broader impacts to the local economy during a time of revitalization and attracting new business.
“The kind of places that have had their schools go bankrupt and fall into receivership, some of those communities’ names are Detroit, Baltimore,” said Barry Broome, with the Greater Sacramento Economic Council said. “Government economies don’t pay taxes very well. They don’t pay property taxes. They don’t reach into the neighborhoods. Schools are a symptom of the problem. And the symptom of the problem is we’ve had divestment in the city of Sacramento.”
KCRA reached out to Mayor Darrell Steinberg for comment. He declined an interview.