OUSD Budget Troubles feel like Déjà Vu, Parents Weigh In
by Eva Ortega
Just three months after paying off its debt to the state, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) has found itself in a situation strikingly similar to the one that forced it to take out the massive loan in the first place.
The district’s budget, brimmed with the programs and initiatives it has committed to funding, has proven unsustainable yet again; leaving administrators scrambling to find ways to cover increasing costs with a base revenue that has stopped growing. If things don’t change, the district will enter a $245,610 deficit by next school year, projections from Chief Business Officer Lisa Grant-Dawson show. [1]
The last time the district faced financial troubles brought on by piling bills, low attendance and demands for teacher wage increases, 2003 OUSD Board President Gregory Hodge emphasized the need for partnerships with Oakland city council, and state officials. Eventually, OUSD would request $100 million from the state—the most ever borrowed by a school district in California.
Today, OUSD Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell also vouches for more collaboration with the city as her administration faces the same issues.
In an Oct. 2 board meeting, Johnson-Trammell likened the district’s bloated budget to a backpack coming apart at the seams and sternly warned the board that it absolutely “would not be able to continue to fund everything.” [3]
Johnson-Trammell also implied that Oakland schools should no longer be mistaken for an all-in-one solution provider to social and political problems in the area. Increasing partnerships, such as with foster youth and unhoused resource centers, could be key to offloading district responsibilities, Johnson-Trammell said.
“It’s convenient for the parent, of course it is... to just drop the kid off at school and expect [teachers] to handle them educationally and emotionally and mentally,” Jerard Bier said while picking up his grandson from school. “But at the same time, it puts a strain on the school to provide all that. They’re really doing all the heavy lifting.”
“martin luther king, jr. elementary school, oakland, ca" by mk30 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Some of the district’s top expenses include $13.4 million for improving schools, $11 million for English language development and $11.4 million for school safety teams, according to a breakdown from OUSD’s Local Control Accountability Plan. [4]
It also faces the task of coming up with an additional $2.1 million to pay for the salary increases it promised its staff in May.
In 2003, then OUSD board members said its problems were not due to “fraud or intentional mismanagement,” but from the “hidden” and “worsening financial affairs of Oakland.” [5]
The state of affairs in Oakland, whether financial or social, could again be contributing to the district’s problems, as crime in the area remains a hot topic of discussion.
People are also moving out of the Bay Area and California in general, an October policy brief from Stanford found. [6] Black residents and those that hold a college degree are among the groups choosing to move out of state. Reasons for their move range from the rising cost of living to better jobs and a perceived upturn in crime. Enrollment among black students—who once made up the majority of Oakland Unifieds students, also went from 46.7% in 2000 to just 19.8% in 2023. [7]
OUSD enrollment data from academic years 2000-2023, showing a decline in enrollment among black students in the district. The full interactive map can be found here.
More recently, OUSD has made headlines for the influx of students in the district experiencing homelessness. While the rise has yet to be fully studied, some chalk it up to an unsustainable cost of living in the area, while others point to the over 733 unaccompanied immigrant minors who enrolled in the district in 2023. [8]
These instances have formed a kaleidoscope of issues that don’t necessarily fall within the purview of school responsibilities, but that the district has nonetheless been forced to deal with.
“Part of my push is that as a school district, we are not the panacea of societal ailments...What are some of those resources where the city is most poised to step in?” Johnson-Tramell asked the Board at the Oct. 2 meeting. [9]
The bedrock of school funding relies on enrollment and the average daily attendance (ADA) of students. An analysis of what is called an ADA-to-enrollment ratio is used to determine funding for school districts in California.
OUSD previously held an ADA-to-enrollment ratio of 94%, though it began to decline following a 2019 teacher strike and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The district’s current ADA-to-enrollment ratio is 89%, lower than the state-wide average of 91.4%. [10]
As a result, OUSD is seeking to beef up enrollment by making the district “a lot more competitive” to families. An increased presence on social media and a revamped website are just some ways that they have tried to attract new students. [
A Nov. 30 promotional post on Instagram encourages Oakland families to enroll in the district.
OUSD has also reinforced attendance taking standards in schools to make sure students are accurately accounted for and funding is secured.
“We do take attendance seriously here,” parent Alyson Abrie, who is also on the PTA at Laurel Elementary said. “And I know that we do have attendance officers that call and check in, in case anyone is sick from Covid.”
While Abrie says the school has yet to be directly impacted by the district’s finances, seeing cuts to certain programs would hurt.
“We have a really strong special education program at this school and it’s important to me,” Abrie said. “They’ve been adding a lot of stuff, so it seems to be going in a good direction for now.”
The 2021-2024 “strategic plan” that OUSD enacted in 2020 continues to be used as a guiding light as new ideas are being hashed out. The plan’s four goals include: ensuring literacy by the third grade, supporting graduates, creating joyful schools, and retaining a diverse staff. [12]
Still, several parents in the community express confusion over what an improvement process looks like in real life versus on paper.
OUSD parent Kim Davis, who spoke at a school improvement listening session, felt hosting district-wide discussions was too broad to understand the unique needs of each school community.
“It’s a huge struggle to me to understand what’s going on here,” Davis said at the event. “... [Community schools] to me is where the real work of school improvement should be happening.”
Dominic Andino, who has two daughters that attend Laurel and Carl B. Munck Elementary Schools, also asked for more teacher assistants in the classroom, especially for students with attention disorders.
Others with high school-aged children voiced concerns over violence and safety in schools.
Ianna Valencia, whose family recently moved from Florida, has two children enrolled in the district.
While she says it’s been “really nice” to see her son transition and be accepted at his new school, Valencia admits to wishing there was more support for middle and high school aged students in the district. Her daughter attends Roosevelt Middle School.
“I was talking to my husband about this earlier, there’s a big transition from an elementary school to a middle school. They get all the support here,” Valencia says gesturing to the Cleveland Elementary campus in front of her. “But when it comes to the bigger schools...middle school, high school, that’s where I feel like the district needs to provide more. They need that support all through the years of school, not just elementary.”
In June, the consulting firm Public Works provided OUSD with a 272-page report on ways it could resolve its financial setbacks.
In its analysis, Public Works found that Oakland had the most school sites (77 total) in the area, despite serving significantly less students compared to local districts like Fresno and Sacramento City Unified.[13]
These findings contributed to Public Works proposing a significant restructuring of the district, including closing and/or combining schools and eliminating certain head positions to save money.
Still, several improvements have been made to school campuses throughout the district, including updates to windows, roofs, playgrounds, and fresh coats of paint for campus buildings. [14]
Before and after photos following a “playground enhancement” at Carl B. Munck Elementary in Southeast Oakland. These photos were part of a slide deck shown at an OUSD board meeting on Oct. 11, 2023.
Though no concrete changes have been announced, the district has no choice but to make the meticulous decisions necessary to stay afloat.
“We’re inviting [families] back to the same old environment if we haven’t made a change,” Board Vice President Clifford Thompson said. “We’re going to look at...what we are asking people to come back to. How is it going to make a difference if you’re placed back in an environment that you left because it wasn’t meeting your needs.”
The next board meeting is scheduled to be held at La Escuelita Education Center on Wednesday, Dec. 13.
