OUSD Cancels Controversial After-School Cuts, but Deep Divisions Within School Board Remain

Updated 3:30 p.m. Thursday

Oakland’s school board voted Wednesday to cancel spending caps that would have cut after-school care by at least 50% next year. However, that funding will likely remain in limbo until the new fiscal year begins in July, adding uncertainty for the services’ providers, already wary of infighting in district leadership.

Lukas Brekke-Miesner, the executive director of Oakland Kids First, which runs Castlemont High School’s after-school enrichment program, told KQED that his and other agencies were instructed Wednesday by the district’s head of expanded learning to plan for programs as usual.

But, he said, “If July becomes this really critical moment to figure everything out, I wouldn’t say that this board has demonstrated sufficient acumen to navigate what could be a very difficult process.”

“And I’m unclear within the central office who would be equipped to shepherd that through,” Brekke-Miesner continued.

This year has been a rollercoaster for the Oakland Unified School District. Board members are deeply divided and a majority voted last month on a separation agreement with longtime Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell, terminating her contract early this summer.

Much of the controversy between board members began surrounding a set of budget proposals co-sponsored by Board President Jennifer Brouhard in March — one of which, referred to as alternative budget adjustments, put caps on contracts the district has with consultants and service providers, certain employee salaries and for books and supplies.

Members of the district’s budget staff and board member Mike Hutchinson, who chairs the budget and finance committee, adamantly opposed the resolution at the time, saying it was rushed and could have unintended consequences. But the budget measures passed with a slim majority.

While the resolution aimed to restrict spending on services and salaries that don’t directly serve students, the language used caused it to backfire, leading district staff to place caps on contracts with local nonprofits who provide enrichment and after care services in OUSD schools next fall, requiring at least 50% reductions in their services. In total, the resolution would have resulted in $29 million in budget cuts.

After community outrage, the board held a special meeting on Wednesday where it debated for nearly three hours whether to slash the alternative budget adjustments, or add last-minute changes to the legislation it was discussing that would keep but delay the cuts. Those changes earned frank criticism from district staff.

“If you don’t want this repeat cycle, we would have conferred and I would have been able to see this [amendment] prior to 30 minutes before the meeting,” budget chief Lisa Grant-Dawson said. “Please know that if you adopt this [amended] resolution, it still will have problems.”

Ultimately, the board majority chose to repeal the resolution entirely, but the meeting further deepened the chasm between board members and with staff — and could threaten their collective goal to serve Oakland students.

Grant-Dawson told KQED after the meeting that even with the budget adjustments repealed, staff won’t have time to reinstate the funding to schools until after the budget process is completed at the end of June.

“We’re too far into budget development to take off the [caps] and then rebalance and still be ready for the [Local Control and Accountability Plan] and budget,” she said. “We’re literally weeks away from our public hearing as well as the adoption.

“This has created a whole different degree of consternation of us having to adjust all these budgets. It took me almost a month to figure out what was the most equitable way to do it, because we’re not talking about five lines of data, we are talking about thousands of lines of data to change,” Grant-Dawson continued.

She said the plan is to lift the spending limits once the budget process wraps up at the end of June.

According to Brekke-Miesner, stalling that technical change won’t financially impact his program, but it does extend his and other aftercare program providers’ uncertainty.

“It creates a lot of confusion, and a delay like this basically means that agencies are going into summer not knowing if everything is going to be remediated and restored,” Brekke-Miesner said. “That means that they could then have to lay off staff in July or August, or tell families in July or August that, ‘Actually, your kid doesn’t have aftercare next year,’ when the ship has sailed on any other alternatives.”

It is expected that when Johnson-Trammell departs the district at the end of June, other executive staff, including Grant-Dawson, could leave with her. Grant-Dawson was previously set to depart OUSD in alignment with Johnson-Trammell’s transition out in 2026.

An application was also opened for an interim superintendent earlier this month, but no one has been named to take over in July.

Brekke-Miesner said that while questions of who will be district leadership are a concern, ultimately, his main worry is with the school board’s inability to get along.

“The level of discourse and derision and disrespect is just so constant and high level that I think it thwarts the ability to really effectively try to solve some really complicated problems,” he told KQED. “I think collectively, the board has to kind of have a ‘Come to Jesus moment’ because it’s going to require a lot more cooperation and respect.”