Dear Oakland families,
Here is the latest FIA4JUSTICE Board Accountability Watch, your tool to change power in public education by making school board meetings accessible and actionable
What’s in this Accountability Watch?
- Items Related OUSD's Budget
- School facilities
- Student transportation
- Budget decision
We wanted to bring your attention to several important agenda items being discussed at the upcoming Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) meeting Wednesday, April 22 at 4pm. We encourage you to attend in person but here is the zoom link to attend as well.
1. School Facilities: Too Many Buildings, Not Enough Students
The district is reviewing a long-term plan for school buildings, and the needs are enormous:
What the Plan Shows:
- It would cost about $3.5 billion to repair and modernize facilities.
- Most school buildings are very old and need major upgrades or replacement.
- Many schools lack basic features like cooling systems, and there are ongoing concerns about water quality.
- Portable classrooms are widely used, even though most are past their expected lifespan.
- Schools are only about 60% full, meaning many buildings are underused.
- Compared to similar districts, OUSD has more small, under-enrolled schools than expected.
Why This Matters
Running many small, under-enrolled schools is expensive. Especially when buildings are old and need repairs.
2. Enrollment: Progress at Risk
Student enrollment is critical because it determines how much funding the district receives.
- Enrollment has been declining for years, driving budget cuts and school closures.
- The district has recently made progress in slowing that decline through targeted efforts.
Why This Matters
Those efforts were funded with one-time money, and there is currently no funding to continue them next year. Without continued investment, the district risks losing progress and seeing enrollment drop again.
3. Attendance: A Major Opportunity to Improve Funding
The district is also working to improve student attendance:
- Chronic absenteeism (students missing 10% or more of school days) has improved, but is still higher than state and county averages.
- The district is shifting away from punishment-based approaches and toward supportive strategies that address root causes like trauma.
Why This Matters
Attendance directly impacts funding. Even a small improvement, such as an increase of attendance by 2%, could bring in millions of additional dollars for schools.
Our Take on OUSD’s Budget
- Enrollment and attendance are the foundations of revenue for OUSD—budget cuts to programs that support and increase enrollment and attendance do not appear strategic or wise.
- Constant budget reductions undermine trust in the effectiveness of OUSD schools.
- Families deserve honest discussion of tradeoffs between balancing the budget and student outcomes.
- How can OUSD ask Oaklanders to pass a bond fund for facilities improvements specified in the FMP without critically examining whether it might be most cost effective to consolidate or close some of OUSD’s small, under-enrolled schools?
Families deserve clear, honest communication about these choices and a real opportunity to shape the decisions that will impact their schools.
Key Questions Families Should Be Asking
- How will the district address the high cost of maintaining too many under-enrolled schools?
- Why isn’t there ongoing funding to support enrollment growth, when it directly impacts revenue?
- What is the plan to significantly reduce absenteeism and recover lost funding?
- How will budget decisions impact programs that help attract students and keep them attending regularly?
- Is it realistic to invest heavily in school facilities without considering consolidating or closing some schools?
