Santa Rosa City Schools on brink of collapse after staff got staggering pay packets: ‘Absolute havoc’

A California school district is teetering on the verge of collapse after out of control spending and hiring. Santa Rosa City Schools, which are about 1.5 hours north of San Francisco, have been reprimanded by Sonoma County education chiefs for blowing stacks of cash. Staff saw bumper pay packets and brought in too many new workers for the revenue it was generating, authorities said. Meanwhile the district has seen student enrollment dwindle from 16,000 in 2016 to under 12,000 last year across 24 schools in the region. In a stark warning, Michael Fine, CEO of the Fiscal Crisis and Management...