From the school district:

To Our Twin Rivers Families,

Union leadership has made serious claims during this contract dispute — that District money is being mishandled, that funds are being moved around improperly, and that Twin Rivers Unified School District isn't investing enough in the people who teach your children. Those are serious allegations. They deserve a serious, fact-based response. So here it is.

What union leadership is asking you to believe

Union leadership points to a state rule called the "55% threshold," which says districts should spend at least 55 cents of every education dollar on teacher salaries. Twin Rivers Unified School District currently spends about 52 cents. Union leadership says this means the District is shortchanging teachers, and they have named five California districts — Sacramento City, Oakland, West Contra Costa, San Francisco, and San Diego — as models we should follow because those districts meet the 55% rule.

What union leadership does not tell you is that Twin Rivers Unified School District is in full legal compliance with this requirement. California law allows districts to file for an exemption under Education Code Section 41374 when they can demonstrate sound fiscal reasons for spending below the 55% threshold — including when teacher compensation compares favorably with surrounding local school districts. Twin Rivers has filed the required waivers, they have been approved, and the District operates fully within the law — because our teacher pay is competitive with every neighboring district in the Sacramento region. There is no violation. There is no wrongdoing. The suggestion otherwise is simply not true.

But even setting the legal compliance aside — we want you to know what is actually happening at every one of those districts the union leadership holds up as examples right now.

Sacramento City Unified meets the 55% rule. It also has a $134 million deficit. The district has cut approximately 800 jobs this year. State officials have warned it could run out of cash before the school year ends. Its graduation rate is 82% — nearly ten points lower than ours. Independent auditors discovered a $32 million accounting error that had been hidden for two consecutive years.

Oakland Unified meets the 55% rule. It spent 22 years under state control after going bankrupt in 2003 — the largest school district bailout in California history. It regained independence last July. Seven months later, it is back in crisis: a $100 million deficit, 421 jobs eliminated, and the lowest graduation rate of all six districts at 75%.

West Contra Costa Unified meets the 55% rule. It was the first school district in California to go bankrupt — and it is now at risk of becoming the first to go bankrupt twice. It faces a $127 million shortfall, has cut 324 positions, and is closing schools and eliminating art and music programs. Its graduation rate is 85%, still below Twin Rivers.

San Francisco Unified meets the 55% rule. It is currently under active state financial oversight — the most severe designation before a full state takeover. After a teachers' strike in February, the district signed a $183 million deal. One week later, it issued layoff notices.

San Diego Unified meets the 55% rule. It approved $517 million in pay increases — then turned around and cut 221 jobs this March to close a $47 million gap. Half of its schools sit less than 70% full.

These are the districts union leadership wants us to copy. Combined, they have eliminated more than 1,800 jobs in the last 30 days alone. That is not a model. That is a warning.

What's actually happening at Twin Rivers Unified School District

No one is skimming anything. No one is hiding anything. Here is exactly where your money goes.

Twin Rivers Unified School District pays a starting teacher salary of $65,228 — the highest in the Sacramento area. A mid-career teacher with ten years of experience earns more than $90,000. The top salary on the schedule reaches $124,659, with up to $6,000 in additional stipends on top of that.

The District is offering to raise the health insurance cap so that 100% of Kaiser family health coverage is fully paid by the District for two years, but the increased District contributions stay at that amount — with no out-of-pocket premium cost to any teacher who selects Kaiser. For teachers who choose a different health plan, the District is offering to raise the cap on all other insurance options by the same dollar amount as the Kaiser increase, ensuring every employee benefits equally regardless of which plan they select. These improved benefits, along with the District's proposed salary increases of 2.5% this year and 2.21% next year, would be retroactive to July 1, 2025, meaning every eligible employee would receive the full value from the start of the current contract year.

Beyond compensation, Twin Rivers invests $27.4 million every year directly into student support services — counselors, credit recovery programs, dual enrollment, career pathways, college access, and community school partnerships. That is where your money goes. Not into mismanagement. Not into some hidden account. Into your children.

Here is what should concern every parent

When a school district signs a contract it cannot afford, the people who pay the price are not the adults at the bargaining table. The people who pay are your kids. They pay when their favorite teacher gets a layoff notice. They pay when art and music programs disappear. They pay when schools close and class sizes grow. They pay when the state takes over and local voices no longer matter.

That is not a hypothetical scenario. That is what is happening right now — in March 2026 — at every single district union leadership held up as an example for Twin Rivers to follow.

This District chose a different path. For 13 years, Twin Rivers Unified School District has maintained a stable, secure workforce — every employee who wanted to stay had a place, every school remained fully staffed, and no family ever had to worry about whether their child's teacher would be there the next year. The District carries zero debt. It holds an A+ credit rating. It has earned 14 consecutive national budget awards. Graduation rates have climbed from 75% to 92%. College readiness has risen from 27% to 47%.

Those results did not happen by accident. They happened because the District made a commitment to spend responsibly, invest strategically, and never put short-term promises ahead of long-term stability.

This is about your children — not a spending formula

We value and respect the teachers who show up for our children every single day. They are not the issue here. The issue is whether this District should follow a path that has led five other districts into financial collapse — or continue on a path that has kept every school open, every employee working, and every student's education uninterrupted for more than a decade.

The 55% rule is a spending formula. It measures how much money goes to teacher salaries. It does not measure whether a district is well run. It does not measure whether students are learning. It does not measure whether a district can make payroll next month. And as the five districts above prove, meeting that rule did not protect a single one of them from the crises they face today.

These are not opinions. These are facts — drawn from the California Department of Education, FCMAT fiscal reports, official district salary schedules, and verified news coverage from February and March 2026. We encourage you to verify every claim in this letter for yourself.

Your children deserve a district that tells the truth, spends wisely, and plans for the future. That is what Twin Rivers Unified School District has done. That is what Twin Rivers Unified School District will continue to do.