Oakland school board approves $103 million in cuts, but details still unclear

The Oakland Unified School District approved a million budget plan that includes vague cuts and hopes to boost attendance rates to generate additional revenue in an effort to repair its bleak budget hole If the district is unable to pass a balanced budget by June or runs out of cash Oakland Unified could return to state control just months after exiting it The district s board of learning approved the cuts by - margin at last week s board meeting which was plagued with board member in-fighting and finger-pointing Board members Mike Hutchinson and Patrice Berry opposed the budget plan The plan includes million in cuts to special guidance but doesn t outline how the cuts will be made It leaves up to schools rather than the board about million in cuts to school campus budgets trims that could hit athletics clubs and library services Brought forward by interim superintendent Denise Gail Saddler the plan also proposes slashing central management staff reducing overtime consolidating academic programs delaying non-critical campus and system repairs and reducing academic internships and apprenticeships To fill the budget gap the district also hopes to bring in million by increasing attendance for this year and for the - school year since schools in California are funded based on the number of students who attend each day But the budget scenario doesn t include how Oakland Unified plans to increase attendance both years It s a challenging goal given that schools across the Bay Area including Oakland Unified are struggling with declining enrollment and chronic absenteeism To further increase the number of students the budget scenario also proposes expanding transitional kindergarten for an additional million in revenue another change that would likely require additional staffing Oakland Unified board member Hutchinson reported the board for failed to bring forward any plan to address the financial problem in a social media post Monday Hutchinson was critical of the approved budget scenario which he revealed was impractical and doesn t address the fact that the district is now overspending and has more staff than it can afford Eighty percent of our budget goes to staffing So if we are going to address a budgetary shortfall likely of how it s addressed is going to be staffing Hutchinson disclosed That s why their so-called solutions are not legitimate and are laughable because they don t look at where we spend our money and they re not real plans That s why we still don t have a plan to address million The plan comes amid several months of financial emergency for the district which was once projected to run out of cash as early as this fall and two months after the school board was expected to deal with the budget crunch The cash-strapped district s once million budget deficit for - ballooned to over million District staff warned that without key cuts and quick action Oakland Unified faces bankruptcy would once again need an urgency loan and would be subject to the same state receivership it was under for years Last month Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Alysse Castro warned that Oakland Unified will almost certainly fail to get through another school year without key financial changes and criticized the board for coming up with numerous plans to make a plan instead of taking concrete action to repair the issue The proposed budget fix comes amid the departure of two key school administrators the chief of staff Dan Bellino and the chief business officer Lisa Grant-Dawson Board member Hutchinson established Grant-Dawson resigned Friday and that Bellino was fired Hutchinson compared the staff changes to the ousting of former Oakland Unified superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell who was unexpectedly removed last April after nearly years leading the district Oakland Unified School District did not respond to a request for comment Board vice president Valarie Bachelor posted on social media Monday saying she appreciated the operation of the staff who were leaving and wished them well Leadership transitions are never easy Bachelor stated I stand with our interim superintendent and her need to develop a senior leadership organization that can aid our district through the next phase of the work