Fixing the problems at Sacramento City Unified School District will take more than adroit financial moves, prudent spending decisions and shared sacrifice.
While Sac City Unified faces state takeover for insolvency, another problem is the ruined relationship between the district and its teachers’ union, the Sacramento City Teachers Association. The parties can’t even speak to one another. A mediator keeps them in separate rooms during negotiations. The mediator plays shuttle diplomacy between them. I’ve seen high-conflict divorces exhibit less hostility.
I’m proud of my Sacramento City Council colleague Jeff Harris for articulating his concerns about Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s proposed additions to our city budget. The mayor wants to take out loans against sales tax income from Measure U. It’s a bonding scheme that could put city assets at risk and possibly bankrupt Sacramento if the economy stalls. By contrast, the budget proposed by City Manager Howard Chan is responsible and comprehensive. Our city’s solvency and long-term sustainability must always be our paramount goal.
In his successful campaign to pass the Measure U sales tax last November, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg exhibited tremendous confidence in City Hall’s ability to solve social problems.
The many promises Steinberg made during the campaign will be put to the test with the city’s 2019-2020 budget, which starts in July—just as Measure U dollars flow into the city treasury.
In his State of the City speech in January, Steinberg suggested placing 80 percent of Measure U money—about $40 million a year—into an “economic trust fund” for our neighborhoods. The fund would last five years and invest $200 million. I’ll get back to this idea later.
Last year, when the Sacramento City Council voted to put Measure U on the November ballot, I dissented. The reason was simple. I knew the city needed additional funds to deliver the parks, roads, public safety and other services residents expect. I appreciated how the permanent 1-cent sales tax would generate about $95 million each year.
But I knew some of the money produced by Measure U would have to pay the city’s current bills and future obligations. To say otherwise—to keep voters in the dark about our commitments to CalPERS pensions—was disingenuous.
Nothing is more important to Sacramento and its future than the education of our children. If Sacramento City Unified School District is in crisis, our city is in crisis. We cannot attract or retain high-paying jobs and growing businesses if our schools are in shambles. And if we fail to prepare our young people to compete in a competitive world, we consign them to substandard lives and eclipsed prospects.
At his State of the City speech in February, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said, “Sacramento can in fact have it all.” What he didn’t say was how the city will pay for it all. In the warm afterglow of his successful campaign to pass the Measure U sales tax, Steinberg exhibited gross overconfidence in the ability of local government to solve the most complex and entrenched social problem of our day—poverty—while losing touch with the city’s inherent financial limits.
