STOCKTON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT MAY BE IN DEEP KIMCHI

By Bob Walsh

                 But they can't spell 'cat' if you spotted them a 'C' and a 'T'

 

The Stockton Unified School District is, like many other good-size urban school districts, in trouble.  They suck up a LOT of money and turn out a crap product, assuming by product you mean kids that graduate with a diploma who can read, write and do basic math.  The district is the 15th largest in the state with a budget of $585M.  The students speak over 40 different languages in their homes.  San Joaquin County is, according to the U. S. Census, very probably the most ethnically diverse county in the country and half of the county population lives in Stockton.

A just released 46-page Civil Grand Jury report has found that the district has "mismanaged its money to the point where drastic changes will need to be implemented to avoid financial catastrophe..."   Various news articles assert that the district is at risk of a state-ordered takeover by the county board of education.

Among other things it appears that the district is using one-time money to engage in long-term commitments.  The district is allegedly looking at a deficit of $30M by fiscal year 2024-25 according to the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistant Team, a state agency brought in by the county board of education to examine the district.

The Grand Jury report noted that the district has not kept minutes of many board meetings and that the district has refused to comply with subpoenas for minutes and recordings.

The investigation found, among other things, that the current Chief Business Officer was hired without a search, screening process or even interview.  Sounds like a home-boy hire to me.  Their business practices are so screwed up that they actually missed one payroll date 

recently.  

I do not know that this is what has happened here, but I have seen in the past at other school districts that the people at the top of the heap often regard their jobs as a license to steal, and to put friends and relatives on the payroll in jobs they are manifestly unqualified to perform.   I do not KNOW that has happened here, but it would not surprise me to find out that it is.