Sacramento, CA – The Sacramento City Unified School District School Board today issued the following statement:

“We are united in service to our students of this district, and are committed to keeping our students in school. We are doing our best to serve honorably and make decisions that are in the interests of all our children and families, and do right by our staff as well. 

“For many years, our district has struggled to balance our budget. This struggle this goes back decades over many past Boards of Education and superintendents. For too long, our district has committed to ongoing costs that are greater than ongoing revenues that our district receives from the state and federal governments.

“We are proud that our Board that has taken fiscally sound steps toward correcting the longstanding structural imbalances in the district budget. Last year, we established board policies about using one-time funds responsibly, and we approved a policy that sets a goal to maintain a responsible reserve.

“The contracts our district negotiates with labor partners must take this into consideration.

We have deep concern and compassion for the students in our district who will lose valuable time in the classroom if a strike takes place. Our families will suffer from the uncertainty and lack of stability in the event that school are forced to close due to a strike.

“The concern for our students is matched by concern for our teachers and our front-line staff who are caught in the middle of this situation. So many of them have told us that they simply want their labor leaders and the district to manage negotiations at the bargaining table so they can focus on teaching and learning. This is where we all want.

“Our community has been through a lot the last three years. Student are behind, and teachers, staff and families are burnt out. We need contracts that that provide certainty in the short-term, and the long-term that factor in the need for:

• fair and competitive total compensation for our staff,
• the ability to maintain reserve/savings for economic uncertainties, and most importantly,
• the ability to invest in students directly to provide equitable opportunities to all students, especially those who have been marginalized by inequitable educational systems for far too long.

“We ask that instead of striking our labor partners go back to the bargaining table. We stand in support of our district community.”

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