Oakland Unified prepares to make steep budget cuts

By Da Lin

Oakland Unified School District, one of the largest school districts in the Bay Area with about 34,000 students, is once again facing dire financial troubles. The district, which just emerged from more than two decades under state control a few months ago, now risks entering receivership again.

District officials admit they are spending too much and could run out of money before the end of this school year. To avoid a county takeover and losing local control, they said up to $90 million in cuts may be necessary over the next two years.

OUSD parent Teal Tolbert, who has five children—four of whom still attend district schools from second grade through high school—said she worried about the impact of further cuts.

“Nobody wants to see the cuts. There have already been so many. I can’t say that I like to see them cut any further,” Tolbert said.

She added that previous cuts have already reduced resources for her children, including after-school tutoring and sports.

“I’m a lot more involved than I used to be just because I see a lot of the decline,” she said. “We want the best for our children, so to see these cuts, it’s really sad.”

Other parents echoed her concerns. Nereida Bravo, a mom with two children in OUSD, said, “It’s frustrating for the parents. After so much [reduction], the parents, they just tune out.” 

OUSD parent Isaac Mesghena added, “Very scary and very concerned for the future of my kids.”

District 3 School Board Director VanCedric Williams held a budget listening session on Saturday to hear from parents about what should be cut.

“The reason we got into this position was the deficit spending over the last several years. During COVID, the federal government gave us $280 million. Our particular district actually ramped up their spending and providing after school services, mental health services as well.  And that included hiring excessive, a lot of particular staff,” Williams said.

He added that everything is on the table, from layoffs to school mergers. District leaders admitted they are overspending by about $4 million a month. To balance the budget, they said they need to cut $10 million in this current school year and another $80 million in the next school year.

“Mid-year cuts, which I haven’t had in my time on the board, are the worst things possible. This means things that we’ve budgeted and planned on spending on for this year need to be eliminated immediately,” said School Board Director Mike Hutchinson.

Hutchinson also criticized Williams and the teachers’ union-backed majority school board for delaying tough decisions. “What we see now represents a complete failure. And when our elected officials fail us, they need to be removed and replaced,” he said.

Williams defended the board, saying, “This board didn’t create the debt. This board is actually fixing the debt. That’s two different things. So let’s always make sure we distinguish that. The previous boards chose not to deal with it.”

The district only recently emerged from more than 20 years of state receivership. Now, staff, parents, and students like Tolbert’s family fear cuts all over again.

“Trying to be optimistic. However, it’s difficult. I think I’m more ready to kind of react for whatever may happen,” Tolbert said.

The district will hold several more budget meetings over the next couple of weeks to gather parent and student input. Afterward, the school board will have to make difficult decisions.

Sara Nuno-Villa, Family Community Engagement Specialist at OUSD’s Office of Equity, said, “We actually need more resources in our school district. But now we’re talking about having less. I think it’s really important for families, community, and caregivers to really understand what the tradeoffs are so they’re really making the best decisions possible.”