California school districts in LA, Sacramento copy the Capitol’s budget deficit dance

Sacramento City Unified and Los Angeles Unified face potential state takeover after decades of chronic overspending. Last week, per CalMatters, Sacramento's county superintendent rejected the district's proposed recovery plan, saying it merely delays insolvency without fixing the underlying structural imbalance. Sacramento carries a two hundred twenty-one point eight million dollar deficit. LA Unified, warned by county officials in July, faces a two hundred thirty-one million dollar deficit and hasn't explained how it will pay for recently approved labor contracts. If either district can't stabilize, state managers will seize financial control, reducing the board and administration to bystanders. California's own deficit crisis is worsening the problem—the state withheld three point nine billion dollars in school funding to balance its budget.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton