Sacramento City Unified trustees hear third interim showing narrower deficit as callers demand ESCAPE reports and forensic audit

Sacramento City Unified School District staff on Wednesday presented the district's third interim financial report, saying recent one-time reductions and accounting adjustments narrowed a projected deficit from roughly $113 million to $61.8 million, with additional closing items and a $2 million parked object code that could lower the figure to about $59.8 million.

The report highlighted declining attendance (P2 ADA below P1), adjustments to federal revenues and expenditures, and $23.6 million moved from restricted resources into the unrestricted general fund to offset this year's shortfall. Staff said the district certified the third interim as "qualified" and will forward it to the County Office of Education for review; the document is not an action item, and the budget will be finalized at the upcoming adoption cycle.

Public commenter Nikki Davis Molosky told trustees she and community members "have been requesting for months the ESCAPE reports one through eight from the budget department. We have not received that." She said ESCAPE reports allow anyone versed in SAC codes to see where money is budgeted and spent, identify overspending, and "see who's hiding money or hoarding it."

Trustee Shawn Singh said the board needs the underlying reports to have confidence in the numbers. Singh pointed to specific discrepancies he found in the third interim: "Books and supplies on audited actuals last year [were] $10.6 million. In this third interim, it's $21 million. That's a 98% increase," he said, and noted benefits and total expenditures appear significantly higher than prior projections. "I don't know why the books and supplies budget expanded that much," Singh added, and said he cannot rely on the document as presented.

Trustee Cayetano urged a formal budget-committee process and criticized what she called rapid, last-minute changes to materials. She said the chart of alternatives presented to trustees lacked recommended, actionable steps and warned that staff's approach suggesting receivership was "inappropriate" and not what the board or community asked for.

Trustee Benjamin asked staff to provide materials earlier so trustees can review them and meet with the budget committee before full-board meetings. "Can we please get this at least five days before you all come and present it to us so we can go through it?" he requested of Ms. Grant-Dawson and cabinet.

Trustee Ibarra pressed for special-education accountability, asking that data be pulled from both SASE and Infinite Campus simultaneously and calling for a "forensic audit ASAP, yesterday" to determine how special-education dollars have been spent.

A district staff member responding to earlier public requests said the ESCAPE request had been received and asked for clarification on the request wording; the staffer said the district would send the reports and pointed trustees to an attached position-control report and a link to related documents. The staff presentation noted increases in after-school program spending and certificated salaries among the changes from the second interim to the third interim.

Board members framed the issues as a mixture of one-time versus recurring adjustments: staff said many of the reductions that improved this year's position are one-time and may not recur in 2026-27, leaving the district with ongoing structural shortfalls to resolve. With the third interim certified as "qualified," the next procedural step is County Office of Education review and then final budget adoption at the district's scheduled budget hearings.

No formal motions or votes were taken at this presentation. Trustees repeatedly asked staff for clearer reconciliations and for the district to deliver supporting reports earlier to enable oversight and constituent responses in advance of adoption.

The board will receive the finalized budget at the district's adoption hearings; County Office of Education review will proceed as required.