In recent weeks, OUSD has hit the panic button over an alleged $95 million budget shortfall projected for this school year. In addition to proposals for austerity cuts that would be catastrophic for students and staff, OUSD is also proposing to merge 10 East Oakland schools into 5. The district has also “sunshined” [submitted its initial bargaining proposal] its intent to withdraw from the Health Benefits Governing Board, the body that allows OEA and the other OUSD bargaining units to negotiate healthcare benefits jointly and has ensured OUSD employees have some of the best benefits in the Bay Area for almost a decade. The board will be voting on these mergers and budget proposals on December 11.

OEA’s analysis of the district budget has revealed that there actually is no budget crisis at all. Rather, OUSD is making claims of a crisis based on projected spending levels for the next few years that are inflated in key areas. In “Books and Supplies,” OUSD is projecting spending around $92 million annually for the next three years, despite average annual spending in this category of about $32.5 million for the past five years. Meanwhile, in “Services and Other Operating Expenses” (“contracting out”), the district spent an average of $134 million over the past four years. But, during the 2023-24 school year, OUSD spent $182 million on outside contracts– and they are projecting their contract spending to stay at this elevated level. These contracts include special education positions (classified and certificated), which have been vacant due to OUSD’s poverty wages.

If OUSD adjusted its budget in these areas, the deficit would come down to $56 million, which is well within coverage by OUSD’s $306 million reserve. On top of all this, OUSD’s administrative bloat continues to significantly outpace that of neighboring districts. OUSD’s Confidential Employee salaries (central office admin) rose 87% over the past decade, while non-confidential district employee salaries rose around 67%, on pace with the Bay Area median.

OUSD is showing its real priorities with proposals to reduce school site FTEs in various categories and essentially force students and staff to do more with less. Perhaps most egregious is their proposal of school closures, which, according to their own calculations, will amount to a savings of $2 million. Of the schools slated for closure (aka merger), 4 are dual immersion Spanish-English elementary schools who share a campus with an English-only elementary school. The 5th affected campus is the former Calvin Simmons campus, where United for Success Academy (a middle school) is slated for closure, while Life Academy (a 6-12 school) is slated for an expansion that would not include UFSA’s students. All 10 of the affected schools are small, community schools founded in the early 2000s as a result of parents, teachers, and community organizers fighting for the rights of flatlands students to a safe, quality education. How can OUSD make claims of ensuring “joyful schools,” “strong readers by third grade,” and “growing a diverse and stable staff” if it is willing to decimate its most thriving programs and squeeze its youngest learners into overcrowded, resource-strapped schools of around 800 students?

We must come together! Our schools are not for sale! Our jobs will not be disappeared nor contracted out! These closures and cuts are an injury to all – students, families, classified, and
certificated staff! See you at the school board meeting on Wednesday, December 11 at La Escuelita!

Schools Slated for Merger:
Manazinta SEED (Spanish
Bilingual) & Manazanita
Community
Acorn Woodland (Spanish
Bilingual) & Encompass Academy
Esperanza (Spanish Bilingual) &
Korematsu Discovery Academy
International Community School
(Spanish Bilingual) & Think
College Now
United for Success Academy
(Proposed Closure) & Life
Academy