Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1543424
Documents recently obtained through public records act requests establish that TRUSD administrators diverted $115,931,201 from their state instructional support budget intended for students over the last six school years. As a result, every day, students experience larger class sizes, a shortage of support staff, and dozens of classrooms without permanent, credentialed teachers. benefits. A review of applications from 2019–20 through 2024–25 shows that SCOE approved them despite TRUSD consistently fail- ing to provide the mandatory proof outlined below: • 2020–21: Failed to provide any comparability data. • 2019–20 & 2023–24: Failed to provide health and welfare contribution data. Additionally, salaries did not exceed benchmarks at the beginning, average or maximum levels. • 2022–23 & 2024–25: Failed to provide health and welfare contribution data. " This failure to fund classrooms is a calculated administrative strategy rather than a budgetary necessity," said Goldberg in his letter. " This is not a matter of fiscal hardship. Twin Rivers students have been bearing the weight of a six-year long funding siphon that SCOE consistently enabled," A recent email from a top TRUSD administrator indicates that TRUSD has no intention of trying to meet the 55% required expenditure. The administrator explicitly states, " The 51% is the new norm % for TRUSD due to the large amount of S/C [Supplemental/Concentration] funds that we receive and low % is used towards instructional teachers and aides." This admission — that violating the Education Code is the "new norm" — apparently raised no concerns among SCOE staff, confirming that Superintendent Dave Gordon rubber stamped the malfeasance. The lack of oversight extends beyond TRUSD. For example, the Natomas Unified School District applied for a waiver in 2023–24 based on a "serious hardship to the district," but without any supporting documen- tation beyond the following paragraph: "NUSD usually meets this criterion; however, due to spending the remaining of the pandemic- related grant funds [emphasis added], the ratio of teacher salary and benefits to the total expenditures decreased to 54.38%." Natomas Unified offered no proof that having to spend pandemic-related grant funds and meeting the statutory minimum would cause the district "serious hardship." Superintendent Gordon's staff approved the waiver, depriving Natomas students of $1,065,721 worth of classroom services during that school year. In 2022–23 NUSD diverted $453,680 from classroom instruction funds. (In 2024–25 the district applied for a waiver but ended up not needing it.) "Over the last six years, SCOE has allowed millions to be skimmed from Sacramento County classrooms," said Goldberg. " These violations disregard the law, and signals to every district in California that class- room funding statutes can be ignored with impunity. This systemic negligence must be investigated to stop future violations. Sacramento students and families deserve no less." Both TRUE and Natomas Teachers Association (NTA) are fighting back against the skim scams. As We Can't Wait locals, both are in contract negotiations with their districts and gearing up for possible strikes if their demands for students, schools and educators are not met. Visit wecantwait.info for more. "Over the last six years, SCOE has allowed millions to be skimmed from Sacramento County classrooms. These violations disregard the law, and signals to every district in California that classroom funding statutes can be ignored with impunity." —CTA President David Goldberg 39 W I N T E R 2 0 26