March 11 Board Meeting Recap

Welcome to our recap of the 3/11 school board meeting! These meetings can feel overwhelming, and Wednesday night was no exception. The room was tense as the board worked through a packed agenda with several consequential decisions:

• Budget certified as "qualified": the District projects it will just barely meet its 3% reserve requirement on June 30. The Superintendent did not address questions about how the $42M cost of the newly negotiated teacher raises will affect that reserve.
• Resolution passed unanimously calling on the governor and state legislature to fully fund schools under Prop 98, as the state's proposed budget delays $5.6B in school payments
• Garfield Elementary approved for a full rebuild instead of a planned remodel, with partial funding from the Oakland Children's Initiative

You can watch the whole meeting on our Youtube channel, or catch the highlights below. 

📊 Vote to Certify the Second Interim Budget Report as “Qualified”

Context: California requires school districts to report their financial status to the county office of education twice a year. The 2nd Interim is a formal checkpoint intended to help the district course correct if spending is off track. The report is called a "snapshot" because it captures the district's actual financial data from July 1, 2025 through January 31, 2026. That fixed Jan 31 cutoff date is then used as the starting point for projecting revenues and expenses forward through the next two years.  That means this interim budget report did not include the impacts of the SEIU contract approved February 25, or the tentative agreement with the OEA.

Last night: Dr. Ruben Frutos of HYA (financial consultants hired by interim Superintendent Dr. Saddler) presented the 2nd interim report and recommended the board certify the budget as “qualified.” Because of the cuts the board made last meeting, the district is projected to end the year with just enough money in reserve to meet the 3% reserve requirement.

The majority view: The board voted 5-1 to certify the budget as qualified, with Berry, Brouhard, Bachelor, Latta, and Williams in favor and Thompson abstaining. Berry seemed impressed that the 2nd interim projects $3M in year-end reserves, noting that last year that had seemed like an impossible goal. She also cautioned that it was hard to compartmentalize as of Jan 31, given that "so many things have happened" since then.

Hutchinson’s dissenting vote: He argued the board should certify "negative" because the district has no way to pay for the tentative OEA agreement (an 11-13% teacher raise costing $42M), and that shouldn't be ignored.

Our take: Dr. Frutos is correct, the 2nd interim cannot by law include the impact of labor agreements that happen after January 31. But the board and the community have both said they want more transparency from the district on financial issues, and Dr. Saddler’s refusal to talk about the financial impact of the OEA agreement did not feel transparent to us. We appreciate Director Latta asking when the community will see an analysis of the fiscal impact of the tentative OEA agreement, and we eagerly await that analysis.

Moments to watch: 

• Hutchinson’s pointed questioning of Frutos and Saddler on the OEA agreement.
• Public commenter Viveca Ycoy-Walton of Families in Action calling for analysis of the financial impact of the OEA agreement, so the board can understand the district’s true financial position 

🏛️ Vote on a Resolution Calling on the Governor and Legislature to Protect the Constitutional Minimum Guarantee for Public Education

Context: Proposition 98 requires a minimum percentage of the state budget to be spent on K-14 education, but the governor’s proposed budget delays $5.6B in payments to school in order to reduce the a state’s budget deficit. 

Last night: The board unanimously passed a resolution introduced by Director Latta calling on the governor and state legislature to fully fund schools as required by Prop 98, though Hutchinson expressed dismay that “this resolution represents the sum total of this board's efforts to address the budget.”

Our take: It’s important to pressure Sacramento to fully fund our schools, and we were glad to see this resolution introduced. The state budget outlook is promising, and we hope Oakland gets additional state funding in May. 

We also share parent commenters' concern about what will happen if state funding doesn’t fully close our budget gap. We recognize that fluctuating state funding puts our district in a genuinely difficult position, and we have empathy for how hard it is to plan when the numbers keep shifting. Even so, it feels risky to make commitments to our teachers without a plan for how we'll afford them if state funding remains at current levels.

Moment to watch: Public comment from Sequoia parent David Chao asking what the plan is if Prop 98 funding doesn’t come through. 

🏗️ Vote to Approve Conversion of Garfield Modernization Project to Rebuild Project

Context: Garfield Elementary is among the facilities most in need of remodeling in the district. The board has already approved $70M of Measure Y funds for a remodel.

Last night: Chief Systems and Services Officer Preston Thomas recommended that the project be converted to a full rebuild, in part so that the facility can house TK classes as part of the district’s plan to expand TK enrollment. The Oakland Children's Initiative committed funding to cover part of the additional cost, to avoid diverting dollars from other Measure Y projects. The board approved this plan in another unanimous vote. 

Our take: It was lovely to see such a positive and community-driven vision of the future of one of our campuses, and moving to hear the Garfield community speak about what their building is like right now. They deserve better.  

Our biggest question: What will the district do about the many other buildings across Oakland that, like Garfield, desperately need investment? We look forward to hearing more about that when the Facilities Master Plan comes before the board later this spring.

Moment to watch: Public commenter Mayra Alvarado, OEA 2nd VP & Garfield 2nd grade teacher describing the mouse problem at her school. “One time there were 3 different mice running around the classroom. I mean try to teach a group of second graders when there’s mice running around the classroom. It’s impossible." We are quite sure we could not!

💬 Other topics & tidbits

• District leadership presented a plan for TK expansion — no vote taken. The plan is part of the district's fiscal stabilization plan, with proposed hubs projected to increase net revenue by $1.1M. Hundreds of families are on the TK waitlist, and because of this plan some may get good news about fall placements.
• You may have heard Dr. Frutos reference a deficit in the restricted fund — he's likely referring to "special education encroachment," where districts must use general fund dollars to cover services for students with IEPs, because federal and state funding doesn't cover the full cost. Learn more here.

🏫 Next Meeting Item To Watch: Facilities Master Plan

The Facilities Master Plan is likely to be read by the full board at the next meeting on March 26 with the goal of the Board adopting the plan. This document has billion-dollar implications. It will guide the 2028 Facilities Bond measure and influence how the remaining Measure Y bond funds are spent. 

Want a sneak peek or to dive deeper into the conversation on the Facilities Master Plan? Attend the Facilities Committee Meeting on March 19 to join in the conversation!

💅Notice our rebrand?

We gave ourselves a little glow up and renamed this newsletter “The Dig: OUSD Board Recaps.” Oakland has deep roots, and all roots need tending to. We’re digging in with care and attention to help plant seeds for our kids’ futures.  

Reply and let us know what you think, about the new name, this issue, or anything on your mind.

In community,

Anna, Bekah, and Jess