Oakland Unified School DistrictOakland Unified School District
Oakland Schools, Teachers Union Reach Deal, Avert Strike
Potential Oakland Teachers Strike: What Should Families Know?
Oakland Teachers Approve a Strike, as Report Calls District’s Pay ‘Not Competitive’
California Demands Oakland Schools Make Sweeping Changes Over Antisemitism Complaints
She Stops School Fights Before They Start. Oakland May Cut Her Job
Oakland Schools in Turmoil After 2 Key Officials Depart Over Budget Crisis
Oakland's School District Must Cut $100 Million. Its Proposed Plan Doesn't Get Close
Alameda County to Oakland Schools: Reduce Costs, or Lose Financial Independence, Again
OUSD Just Got Control of Its Finances Back From the State. It’s Already in Major Trouble
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"content": "\u003cp>Oakland’s public school district and teachers union reached an early morning deal Friday, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074272/oakland-teachers-approve-a-strike-as-report-calls-districts-pay-not-competitive\">averting a strike\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new two-year deal includes significant raises for teachers that the union says will attract educators and address high turnover rates in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland schools\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By forcing OUSD to invest in creating stability in our classrooms and schools we are making a historic investment in the future of Oakland” said union President, Kampala Taiz-Rancifer. “This contract reflects a newfound commitment by the [Oakland Unified School District] Superintendent and School Board to prioritize resources toward classrooms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deal, reached after an 18 hour bargaining session extended into the early morning Friday, comes after nearly a year of contract negotiations and months in mediation without a new contract. Last week, the Oakland Education Association, which represents about 3,000 teachers, nurses, social workers and other credentialed staff, voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, following neighboring districts like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073306/sfusd-teachers-strike-no-end-in-sight-health-care-battle\">San Francisco\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066588/west-contra-costa-teachers-agree-to-end-strike-and-return-to-class-after-a-week\">West Contra Costa\u003c/a>, where teachers took to the picket lines in February and December before securing new contracts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union was demanding higher wages, saying its educators are among the lowest paid in the Bay Area, leading to high turnover rates and understaffing in schools. But the school district has maintained it is unable to meet those demands as it grapples with a more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064579/oaklands-school-district-must-cut-100-million-its-proposed-plan-doesnt-get-close\">$100 million budget deficit\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Initially, the union proposed 14% raises over two years, while the district offered no pay bump. As the threat of a strike escalated, the district raised its offer to an 8% salary increase by 2027 earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new contract includes 11% to 13% raises for teachers over two years, with additional salary enhancements for special education and early education teachers, as well as social workers. It also includes changes to improve working conditions for special education employees and nurses, and smaller student-to-counselor ratios for counselors, among other things.[aside postID=news_12074650 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed-1020x680.jpg']Wages have also been the major sticking point in recent OUSD contract disputes, as teachers say their pay fails to keep up with neighboring districts. In 2023, OEA held a weeklong strike that ended after teachers won a 15.5% raise over two and a half years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the union’s analysis, OUSD teachers are the lowest paid among 10 Bay Area districts, and OEA president Kampala Taiz-Rancifer told KQED that about 60% of district teachers can’t afford to live in Oakland. That analysis was affirmed by a neutral mediator earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the district will need to figure out how to pay for the new deal. The district has estimated that 11% raises will cost more than $55 million alone. Without factoring in the price of the new deal, OUSD is eyeing $102 million in cuts by June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interim Superintendent Denise Saddler told the school board this week that without those reductions, “we won’t be able to pay all the people on our payroll in the fall. We don’t have the money in the budget for next year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, OUSD approved cutting nearly 400 staff positions, including 180 filled by OEA members, through early retirement buyouts, elimination of vacant positions, and layoffs. Altogether, that is estimated to save about $11 million annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saddler said that the district’s finance team has identified about $65 million in cuts so far in total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not yet clear if all of those proposals, which include increasing enrollment to recoup some funds and major changes to special education services, are feasible, though. And the union is also expected to fight this week’s preliminarily layoff notices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know our collective power brought us here, and we know our collective power will continue to move OUSD to ensure all our schools are fully staffed by rescinding preliminary layoffs as well,” Taiz-Rancifer said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deal still needs to be ratified by OEA’s membership, and approved by the school board, before it is finalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deal, reached after an 18 hour bargaining session extended into the early morning Friday, comes after nearly a year of contract negotiations and months in mediation without a new contract. Last week, the Oakland Education Association, which represents about 3,000 teachers, nurses, social workers and other credentialed staff, voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, following neighboring districts like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073306/sfusd-teachers-strike-no-end-in-sight-health-care-battle\">San Francisco\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066588/west-contra-costa-teachers-agree-to-end-strike-and-return-to-class-after-a-week\">West Contra Costa\u003c/a>, where teachers took to the picket lines in February and December before securing new contracts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union was demanding higher wages, saying its educators are among the lowest paid in the Bay Area, leading to high turnover rates and understaffing in schools. But the school district has maintained it is unable to meet those demands as it grapples with a more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064579/oaklands-school-district-must-cut-100-million-its-proposed-plan-doesnt-get-close\">$100 million budget deficit\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Initially, the union proposed 14% raises over two years, while the district offered no pay bump. As the threat of a strike escalated, the district raised its offer to an 8% salary increase by 2027 earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new contract includes 11% to 13% raises for teachers over two years, with additional salary enhancements for special education and early education teachers, as well as social workers. It also includes changes to improve working conditions for special education employees and nurses, and smaller student-to-counselor ratios for counselors, among other things.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Wages have also been the major sticking point in recent OUSD contract disputes, as teachers say their pay fails to keep up with neighboring districts. In 2023, OEA held a weeklong strike that ended after teachers won a 15.5% raise over two and a half years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the union’s analysis, OUSD teachers are the lowest paid among 10 Bay Area districts, and OEA president Kampala Taiz-Rancifer told KQED that about 60% of district teachers can’t afford to live in Oakland. That analysis was affirmed by a neutral mediator earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the district will need to figure out how to pay for the new deal. The district has estimated that 11% raises will cost more than $55 million alone. Without factoring in the price of the new deal, OUSD is eyeing $102 million in cuts by June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interim Superintendent Denise Saddler told the school board this week that without those reductions, “we won’t be able to pay all the people on our payroll in the fall. We don’t have the money in the budget for next year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, OUSD approved cutting nearly 400 staff positions, including 180 filled by OEA members, through early retirement buyouts, elimination of vacant positions, and layoffs. Altogether, that is estimated to save about $11 million annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saddler said that the district’s finance team has identified about $65 million in cuts so far in total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not yet clear if all of those proposals, which include increasing enrollment to recoup some funds and major changes to special education services, are feasible, though. And the union is also expected to fight this week’s preliminarily layoff notices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know our collective power brought us here, and we know our collective power will continue to move OUSD to ensure all our schools are fully staffed by rescinding preliminary layoffs as well,” Taiz-Rancifer said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deal still needs to be ratified by OEA’s membership, and approved by the school board, before it is finalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "2026-oakland-teachers-strike-ousd-when-oea-union-alameda-county",
"title": "Potential Oakland Teachers Strike: What Should Families Know?",
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"headTitle": "Potential Oakland Teachers Strike: What Should Families Know? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Weeks after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074197/sfusd-teachers-got-a-big-contract-deal-not-all-are-happy-with-it\">San Francisco educators \u003c/a>wrapped up a four-day strike that shuttered schools and left many families across the city scrambling for child care, Oakland teachers are gearing up for a possible labor battle of their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late last week, the Oakland Education Association — the union representing nearly 3,000 teachers, social workers, counselors and other staff across the Oakland Unified School District — voted to authorize a strike. The threat comes after nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074272/oakland-teachers-approve-a-strike-as-report-calls-districts-pay-not-competitive\">a year of labor negotiations\u003c/a> between the union and the school district without a contract deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike San Francisco’s teachers strike, which was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071181/san-francisco-teachers-union-moves-closer-to-a-historic-strike-first-in-more-than-50-years\">the city’s first in almost half a century\u003c/a>, Oakland teachers \u003cem>have \u003c/em>taken to the picket lines in recent years. During contract negotiations in 2019 and 2023, OUSD educators held strikes that each lasted about a week and ended after the district offered wage increases to staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite those raises, the parties’ major sticking point again revolves around pay. OUSD’s teachers are among the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071181/san-francisco-teachers-union-moves-closer-to-a-historic-strike-first-in-more-than-50-years\">lowest paid in the Bay Area\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to: \u003ca href=\"#WhensthesoonestanOaklandteachersstrikecouldtakeplace\">When’s the soonest an Oakland teachers strike could take place?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>While Oakland families might have gained more familiarity in navigating teacher strikes in the last few years, the challenges of keeping up with rapid back-and-forth negotiations between the union and district — and to find access to food, child care and instructional resources for kids whose schools could be impacted — are the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for what we know about a possible Oakland teachers strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Is an OUSD strike definitely happening?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Not yet. But while no OUSD strike has been called, it could be announced at any time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Friday, teachers gave their OEA union permission to call a work stoppage, and they have completed the legally mandated mediation process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12043210\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12043210\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-04_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-04_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-04_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-04_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Offices in Oakland on April 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The union has said it’s still open to negotiating with the school district to avoid a strike, though, and the two sides have another bargaining session on the books for Thursday evening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But OEA representatives have said the union will need real movement from the district on wages to come to any agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What does the Oakland teachers union want, and what’s the latest?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>OUSD and OEA have been negotiating a new contract since last March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the two sides have reached some tentative agreements on smaller proposals, they’ve made little progress on wage increases. Like districts across the state, OUSD is facing enrollment decline, and said its spending is outpacing its revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the union said its teachers are paid too little to live in Oakland, and that low wages are contributing to high teacher turnover rates in the district.[aside postID=news_12074272 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/012_KQED_OaklandTeacherStrike_04292022_qed-1536x1024.jpg']The union has demanded a raise between 12% and 14% over two years. In reply, OUSD has proposed raises that would equal 8% by 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, a neutral mediator, who was appointed to collect financial information and hear arguments of both sides, issued a recommendation that falls somewhere in the middle: a 6% raise over two years, plus an additional 3% to 4% raise in 2027. The mediator also suggested an extra 2% bump for special education teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mediator’s full report, known as a “fact-finding report,” was released last week and marked the final step in mediation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, the parties met to bargain on Monday and are expected to return to the table on Thursday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday night, the district’s school board held a closed-door meeting to discuss the negotiations, but didn’t take any new actions.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s going on with Oakland’s budget? And what does it have to do with a strike?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s school district is in the midst of making major budget cuts, which have become \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12023461/ousd-on-track-run-out-of-cash-after-avoiding-hard-decisions-scathing-letter-says\">routine\u003c/a> in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043062/as-ousd-gets-closer-to-controlling-its-finances-new-budget-challenges-loom\">Last summer\u003c/a>, the district regained full local financial control 20 years after it declared bankruptcy in 2003. But without cuts, interim Superintendent Denise Saddler told the school board this week, OUSD won’t be able to right a $102 million budget deficit projected next year and could risk again needing state assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, the district approved a plan to eliminate almost 400 staff positions through a combination of layoffs, early retirement buyouts and eliminations of roles that are currently vacant. Those cuts will save about $11 million, according to district fiscal advisors. The district is also eyeing plans to reduce schools’ individual budgets, and a lofty proposal to significantly increase the special education services it offers in district schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12019083\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12019083\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/21_240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL-scaled-e1772135571879.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Transitional kindergarten students play outside during recess at the International Community School in Oakland on May 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So far, it’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064579/oaklands-school-district-must-cut-100-million-its-proposed-plan-doesnt-get-close\">identified about $65\u003c/a> million in cuts it could make, and is still aiming to identify another $35 million before its budget is due in June. That total dollar amount doesn’t factor in any additional costs associated with a new contract with OEA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073310/if-sfusd-teachers-get-their-way-district-suggests-more-cuts-could-be-on-the-table\">other Bay Area school districts\u003c/a>, rocked by strikes in recent weeks, officials have indicated that spending more on teachers’ contracts could force districts to make deeper cuts during budget planning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, the deal that educators and the district struck earlier this month increased the district’s expenditures by more than $180 million for two years, and could lead to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073441/san-franciscos-teachers-strike-has-ended-what-comes-next\">additional cuts or layoffs\u003c/a>, according to school leaders there. West Contra Costa County, which also just approved a new labor contract after a four-day strike in December, passed a plan that will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073310/if-sfusd-teachers-get-their-way-district-suggests-more-cuts-could-be-on-the-table\">slash 10% of its workforce\u003c/a> at the end of the school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"WhensthesoonestanOaklandteachersstrikecouldtakeplace\">\u003c/a>When’s the soonest an Oakland teachers strike could take place?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Since mediation has wrapped up, and the union has authorized a walkout, the call for an Oakland teachers strike could come at any time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OEA has to give the district 48 hours’ notice before taking to picket lines, so the earliest a strike would likely interrupt schools is Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Has this kind of strike ever happened before in Oakland?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Yes. Oakland’s OEA union held similar strikes in both 2019 and 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2019/tentative-agreement-reached-in-oakland-unified-teachers-strike/609342\">In 2019\u003c/a>, the walkout came after Oakland teachers had been working under an expired deal for nearly two years. Lasting a week, the strike ended with a four-year contract that included raises, along with commitments to decrease class sizes and put a monthslong moratorium on school closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042892\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12042892 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Board listens to public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>OUSD operates more small campuses compared to similarly sized districts, and for years has gone back and forth on plans to shutter some schools, often \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">reneging on plans\u003c/a> after community pushback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland educators again \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949458/oakland-teachers-strike-ends-as-union-reaches-agreement-with-school-district\">walked out for about a week in 2023\u003c/a>, after another monthslong negotiation cycle.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What happens during a teachers strike? Will Oakland schools close?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While San Francisco schools closed earlier this month, Oakland’s could remain open during a walkout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the 2023 strike, students who attended school were supervised by principals and central office staff. But little instruction actually occurred, and attendance dropped as low as 4%, according to \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/05/25/ousds-annual-attendance-fell-4-as-a-result-of-the-teachers-strike/\">\u003cem>The Oaklandside\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Where can I take my kids if Oakland schools are closed?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some institutions are preparing to extend their services if the strike is on. The City of Oakland’s Office of Parks, Recreation & Youth Development opened five centers “in the event of an Oakland Unified School District teacher strike.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following spots in Oakland will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/Community/Parks-Facilities/Recreation-Centers/Allendale-Recreation-Center\">Allendale Recreation Center\u003c/a>: 3711 Suter St.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/Community/Parks-Facilities/Recreation-Centers/Bushrod-Recreation-Center\">Bushrod Recreation Center\u003c/a>: 560 59th St.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/Community/Parks-Facilities/Recreation-Centers/Carmen-Flores-Recreation-Center\">Carmen Flores Recreation Center\u003c/a>: 1637 Fruitvale Ave.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/Community/Parks-Facilities/Recreation-Centers/Ira-Jinkins-Recreation-Center\">Ira Jinkins Recreation Center\u003c/a>: 9175 Edes Ave.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/Community/Parks-Facilities/Recreation-Centers/Lincoln-Square-Park-and-Recreation-Center\">Lincoln Square Park and Recreation Center\u003c/a>: 261 11th St.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>In an email, the representative from the city said “services will be free,” and there will be snacks and meals provided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some museums and cultural institutions may also respond to the strike by providing deals for impacted families, but some \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073183/sfusd-san-francisco-teachers-strike-museums-free-tickets-discounts-sf-library\">local museums already have discounts\u003c/a> for young people. For example, the Oakland Museum of California has \u003ca href=\"https://tickets.museumca.org/orders/492/calendar?eventId=63c714fc8e3603283bf30b0e&cart&_gl=1*4ss7il*_gcl_au*MjI5OTA4Nzc1LjE3NzIxNDc4Njg.*_ga*MTY1NTg5NDE1MS4xNzcyMTQ3ODY3*_ga_VHQH9B37EL*czE3NzIxNDc4NjQkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzIxNDc5NzUkajQ5JGwwJGgw*_ga_GVDBGVJYSC*czE3NzIxNDc4NjQkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzIxNDc5NzYkajQ4JGwwJGgw\">free admission for young people 12 and under\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What does ‘crossing a picket line’ actually mean?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Families sending students to school during a strike\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the SFUSD strike earlier this month, \u003ca href=\"https://wecantwait.info/parents/uesf\">the California Teachers Union \u003c/a>said that as a parent or guardian, “you’ll have to decide if you want your child in this environment” of a school that’s in the middle of a strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A strike is most powerful when students do not attend school, because this puts financial pressure on the district to negotiate with educators or lose more money from the state,” the statewide union’s \u003ca href=\"https://wecantwait.info/parents/uesf\">guidance\u003c/a> for SFUSD families read. CTA has not yet issued specific guidance for OUSD families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949102\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949102\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65200_05092023_oaklandstrikepresser-214-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Teachers march in front of a school, holding protest signs.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65200_05092023_oaklandstrikepresser-214-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65200_05092023_oaklandstrikepresser-214-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65200_05092023_oaklandstrikepresser-214-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65200_05092023_oaklandstrikepresser-214-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65200_05092023_oaklandstrikepresser-214-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland teachers, students and supporters march on a picket line in front of Melrose Leadership Academy on May 9, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Volunteers teaching in schools during a strike in the absence of teachers\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National PTA’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.pta.org/home/advocacy/ptas-positions/Individual-Position-Statements/Position-Statement-Teacher-Negotiations-Sanctions-and-Strikes\">guidance\u003c/a> to local branches also states that “PTA should not man the classrooms” unless “possibly for a day in the absence of advance notice of a strike.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not only is manning of classrooms inconsistent with PTA efforts to obtain a qualified teacher in every classroom, but personal liability may be incurred,” the notice reads. “If the school administration intends to keep the schools open during a teacher walkout, it should develop a corps of volunteers outside the PTA structure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What about families who rely on free meals at school?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many families may rely on schools to provide no-cost meals during weekdays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the SFUSD strike, the district and the mayor’s office organized several pick-up locations throughout for breakfasts and lunches — and OUSD may do the same. KQED has asked the district for details of any resources it plans to offer families in the event of a strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12035840\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12035840\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06.jpg\" alt=\"The bottom half of several children on a concrete playground with yellow chalk outlining numbers and letters is shown.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rising first graders walk to their classroom at the start of the day during summer session at Laurel Elementary in Oakland on June 11, 2021. \u003ccite>(Anne Wernikoff/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>KQED has a thorough guide on how to find \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12061440/calfresh-snap-ebt-shutdown-find-food-banks-near-me-san-francisco-bay-area-alameda-oakland-contra-costa-newsom-national-guard\">food pantries\u003c/a> in the Bay Area, including Alameda County resources like:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The California Association of Food Banks\u003ca href=\"https://www.cafoodbanks.org/our-members/\">’ online tool\u003c/a>, which lists all the major food banks in the state\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The \u003ca href=\"https://211ca.org/\">state’s 211 \u003c/a>hotline\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.foodnow.net/find-a-food-pantry/\">Alameda County Community Food Bank\u003c/a> tool can locate \u003ca href=\"https://www.foodnow.net/find-a-food-pantry/\">food resources\u003c/a> in the area. You can also call 510-635-3663 for any emergencies\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.alamedafoodbank.org/get-food/\">Alameda Food Bank\u003c/a> at 677 W. Ranger Ave. in Alameda\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A map of \u003ca href=\"https://www.acgov.org/maps/food-services.htm\">food services and distribution\u003c/a> locations in Alameda County\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Oakland Unified School District educators voted to authorize a strike last week, following a year of labor negotiations with no deal.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Weeks after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074197/sfusd-teachers-got-a-big-contract-deal-not-all-are-happy-with-it\">San Francisco educators \u003c/a>wrapped up a four-day strike that shuttered schools and left many families across the city scrambling for child care, Oakland teachers are gearing up for a possible labor battle of their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late last week, the Oakland Education Association — the union representing nearly 3,000 teachers, social workers, counselors and other staff across the Oakland Unified School District — voted to authorize a strike. The threat comes after nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074272/oakland-teachers-approve-a-strike-as-report-calls-districts-pay-not-competitive\">a year of labor negotiations\u003c/a> between the union and the school district without a contract deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike San Francisco’s teachers strike, which was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071181/san-francisco-teachers-union-moves-closer-to-a-historic-strike-first-in-more-than-50-years\">the city’s first in almost half a century\u003c/a>, Oakland teachers \u003cem>have \u003c/em>taken to the picket lines in recent years. During contract negotiations in 2019 and 2023, OUSD educators held strikes that each lasted about a week and ended after the district offered wage increases to staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite those raises, the parties’ major sticking point again revolves around pay. OUSD’s teachers are among the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071181/san-francisco-teachers-union-moves-closer-to-a-historic-strike-first-in-more-than-50-years\">lowest paid in the Bay Area\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to: \u003ca href=\"#WhensthesoonestanOaklandteachersstrikecouldtakeplace\">When’s the soonest an Oakland teachers strike could take place?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>While Oakland families might have gained more familiarity in navigating teacher strikes in the last few years, the challenges of keeping up with rapid back-and-forth negotiations between the union and district — and to find access to food, child care and instructional resources for kids whose schools could be impacted — are the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading for what we know about a possible Oakland teachers strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Is an OUSD strike definitely happening?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Not yet. But while no OUSD strike has been called, it could be announced at any time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Friday, teachers gave their OEA union permission to call a work stoppage, and they have completed the legally mandated mediation process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12043210\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12043210\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-04_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-04_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-04_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-04_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Offices in Oakland on April 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The union has said it’s still open to negotiating with the school district to avoid a strike, though, and the two sides have another bargaining session on the books for Thursday evening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But OEA representatives have said the union will need real movement from the district on wages to come to any agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What does the Oakland teachers union want, and what’s the latest?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>OUSD and OEA have been negotiating a new contract since last March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the two sides have reached some tentative agreements on smaller proposals, they’ve made little progress on wage increases. Like districts across the state, OUSD is facing enrollment decline, and said its spending is outpacing its revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the union said its teachers are paid too little to live in Oakland, and that low wages are contributing to high teacher turnover rates in the district.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The union has demanded a raise between 12% and 14% over two years. In reply, OUSD has proposed raises that would equal 8% by 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, a neutral mediator, who was appointed to collect financial information and hear arguments of both sides, issued a recommendation that falls somewhere in the middle: a 6% raise over two years, plus an additional 3% to 4% raise in 2027. The mediator also suggested an extra 2% bump for special education teachers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mediator’s full report, known as a “fact-finding report,” was released last week and marked the final step in mediation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, the parties met to bargain on Monday and are expected to return to the table on Thursday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday night, the district’s school board held a closed-door meeting to discuss the negotiations, but didn’t take any new actions.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s going on with Oakland’s budget? And what does it have to do with a strike?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s school district is in the midst of making major budget cuts, which have become \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12023461/ousd-on-track-run-out-of-cash-after-avoiding-hard-decisions-scathing-letter-says\">routine\u003c/a> in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043062/as-ousd-gets-closer-to-controlling-its-finances-new-budget-challenges-loom\">Last summer\u003c/a>, the district regained full local financial control 20 years after it declared bankruptcy in 2003. But without cuts, interim Superintendent Denise Saddler told the school board this week, OUSD won’t be able to right a $102 million budget deficit projected next year and could risk again needing state assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, the district approved a plan to eliminate almost 400 staff positions through a combination of layoffs, early retirement buyouts and eliminations of roles that are currently vacant. Those cuts will save about $11 million, according to district fiscal advisors. The district is also eyeing plans to reduce schools’ individual budgets, and a lofty proposal to significantly increase the special education services it offers in district schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12019083\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12019083\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/21_240517-TKBilingualLearners-80-BL-scaled-e1772135571879.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Transitional kindergarten students play outside during recess at the International Community School in Oakland on May 17, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So far, it’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064579/oaklands-school-district-must-cut-100-million-its-proposed-plan-doesnt-get-close\">identified about $65\u003c/a> million in cuts it could make, and is still aiming to identify another $35 million before its budget is due in June. That total dollar amount doesn’t factor in any additional costs associated with a new contract with OEA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073310/if-sfusd-teachers-get-their-way-district-suggests-more-cuts-could-be-on-the-table\">other Bay Area school districts\u003c/a>, rocked by strikes in recent weeks, officials have indicated that spending more on teachers’ contracts could force districts to make deeper cuts during budget planning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, the deal that educators and the district struck earlier this month increased the district’s expenditures by more than $180 million for two years, and could lead to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073441/san-franciscos-teachers-strike-has-ended-what-comes-next\">additional cuts or layoffs\u003c/a>, according to school leaders there. West Contra Costa County, which also just approved a new labor contract after a four-day strike in December, passed a plan that will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073310/if-sfusd-teachers-get-their-way-district-suggests-more-cuts-could-be-on-the-table\">slash 10% of its workforce\u003c/a> at the end of the school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"WhensthesoonestanOaklandteachersstrikecouldtakeplace\">\u003c/a>When’s the soonest an Oakland teachers strike could take place?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Since mediation has wrapped up, and the union has authorized a walkout, the call for an Oakland teachers strike could come at any time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OEA has to give the district 48 hours’ notice before taking to picket lines, so the earliest a strike would likely interrupt schools is Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Has this kind of strike ever happened before in Oakland?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Yes. Oakland’s OEA union held similar strikes in both 2019 and 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2019/tentative-agreement-reached-in-oakland-unified-teachers-strike/609342\">In 2019\u003c/a>, the walkout came after Oakland teachers had been working under an expired deal for nearly two years. Lasting a week, the strike ended with a four-year contract that included raises, along with commitments to decrease class sizes and put a monthslong moratorium on school closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042892\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12042892 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Board listens to public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>OUSD operates more small campuses compared to similarly sized districts, and for years has gone back and forth on plans to shutter some schools, often \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">reneging on plans\u003c/a> after community pushback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland educators again \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949458/oakland-teachers-strike-ends-as-union-reaches-agreement-with-school-district\">walked out for about a week in 2023\u003c/a>, after another monthslong negotiation cycle.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What happens during a teachers strike? Will Oakland schools close?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While San Francisco schools closed earlier this month, Oakland’s could remain open during a walkout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the 2023 strike, students who attended school were supervised by principals and central office staff. But little instruction actually occurred, and attendance dropped as low as 4%, according to \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/05/25/ousds-annual-attendance-fell-4-as-a-result-of-the-teachers-strike/\">\u003cem>The Oaklandside\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Where can I take my kids if Oakland schools are closed?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some institutions are preparing to extend their services if the strike is on. The City of Oakland’s Office of Parks, Recreation & Youth Development opened five centers “in the event of an Oakland Unified School District teacher strike.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following spots in Oakland will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/Community/Parks-Facilities/Recreation-Centers/Allendale-Recreation-Center\">Allendale Recreation Center\u003c/a>: 3711 Suter St.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/Community/Parks-Facilities/Recreation-Centers/Bushrod-Recreation-Center\">Bushrod Recreation Center\u003c/a>: 560 59th St.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/Community/Parks-Facilities/Recreation-Centers/Carmen-Flores-Recreation-Center\">Carmen Flores Recreation Center\u003c/a>: 1637 Fruitvale Ave.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/Community/Parks-Facilities/Recreation-Centers/Ira-Jinkins-Recreation-Center\">Ira Jinkins Recreation Center\u003c/a>: 9175 Edes Ave.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/Community/Parks-Facilities/Recreation-Centers/Lincoln-Square-Park-and-Recreation-Center\">Lincoln Square Park and Recreation Center\u003c/a>: 261 11th St.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>In an email, the representative from the city said “services will be free,” and there will be snacks and meals provided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some museums and cultural institutions may also respond to the strike by providing deals for impacted families, but some \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073183/sfusd-san-francisco-teachers-strike-museums-free-tickets-discounts-sf-library\">local museums already have discounts\u003c/a> for young people. For example, the Oakland Museum of California has \u003ca href=\"https://tickets.museumca.org/orders/492/calendar?eventId=63c714fc8e3603283bf30b0e&cart&_gl=1*4ss7il*_gcl_au*MjI5OTA4Nzc1LjE3NzIxNDc4Njg.*_ga*MTY1NTg5NDE1MS4xNzcyMTQ3ODY3*_ga_VHQH9B37EL*czE3NzIxNDc4NjQkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzIxNDc5NzUkajQ5JGwwJGgw*_ga_GVDBGVJYSC*czE3NzIxNDc4NjQkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzIxNDc5NzYkajQ4JGwwJGgw\">free admission for young people 12 and under\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What does ‘crossing a picket line’ actually mean?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Families sending students to school during a strike\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the SFUSD strike earlier this month, \u003ca href=\"https://wecantwait.info/parents/uesf\">the California Teachers Union \u003c/a>said that as a parent or guardian, “you’ll have to decide if you want your child in this environment” of a school that’s in the middle of a strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A strike is most powerful when students do not attend school, because this puts financial pressure on the district to negotiate with educators or lose more money from the state,” the statewide union’s \u003ca href=\"https://wecantwait.info/parents/uesf\">guidance\u003c/a> for SFUSD families read. CTA has not yet issued specific guidance for OUSD families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11949102\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11949102\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65200_05092023_oaklandstrikepresser-214-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Teachers march in front of a school, holding protest signs.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65200_05092023_oaklandstrikepresser-214-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65200_05092023_oaklandstrikepresser-214-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65200_05092023_oaklandstrikepresser-214-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65200_05092023_oaklandstrikepresser-214-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/05/RS65200_05092023_oaklandstrikepresser-214-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland teachers, students and supporters march on a picket line in front of Melrose Leadership Academy on May 9, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Volunteers teaching in schools during a strike in the absence of teachers\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National PTA’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.pta.org/home/advocacy/ptas-positions/Individual-Position-Statements/Position-Statement-Teacher-Negotiations-Sanctions-and-Strikes\">guidance\u003c/a> to local branches also states that “PTA should not man the classrooms” unless “possibly for a day in the absence of advance notice of a strike.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not only is manning of classrooms inconsistent with PTA efforts to obtain a qualified teacher in every classroom, but personal liability may be incurred,” the notice reads. “If the school administration intends to keep the schools open during a teacher walkout, it should develop a corps of volunteers outside the PTA structure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What about families who rely on free meals at school?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many families may rely on schools to provide no-cost meals during weekdays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the SFUSD strike, the district and the mayor’s office organized several pick-up locations throughout for breakfasts and lunches — and OUSD may do the same. KQED has asked the district for details of any resources it plans to offer families in the event of a strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12035840\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12035840\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06.jpg\" alt=\"The bottom half of several children on a concrete playground with yellow chalk outlining numbers and letters is shown.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rising first graders walk to their classroom at the start of the day during summer session at Laurel Elementary in Oakland on June 11, 2021. \u003ccite>(Anne Wernikoff/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>KQED has a thorough guide on how to find \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12061440/calfresh-snap-ebt-shutdown-find-food-banks-near-me-san-francisco-bay-area-alameda-oakland-contra-costa-newsom-national-guard\">food pantries\u003c/a> in the Bay Area, including Alameda County resources like:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>The California Association of Food Banks\u003ca href=\"https://www.cafoodbanks.org/our-members/\">’ online tool\u003c/a>, which lists all the major food banks in the state\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The \u003ca href=\"https://211ca.org/\">state’s 211 \u003c/a>hotline\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.foodnow.net/find-a-food-pantry/\">Alameda County Community Food Bank\u003c/a> tool can locate \u003ca href=\"https://www.foodnow.net/find-a-food-pantry/\">food resources\u003c/a> in the area. You can also call 510-635-3663 for any emergencies\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.alamedafoodbank.org/get-food/\">Alameda Food Bank\u003c/a> at 677 W. Ranger Ave. in Alameda\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A map of \u003ca href=\"https://www.acgov.org/maps/food-services.htm\">food services and distribution\u003c/a> locations in Alameda County\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Oakland Teachers Approve a Strike, as Report Calls District’s Pay ‘Not Competitive’",
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"content": "\u003cp>Days after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073306/sfusd-teachers-strike-no-end-in-sight-health-care-battle\">end of a teachers strike\u003c/a> that shut down San Francisco public schools for a week, Oakland educators have authorized their own strike following nearly a year of unsuccessful contract negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The potential work stoppage was supported in voting last week by 91% of Oakland Education Association members, which includes 3,000 teachers, counselors, social workers and other credentialed staff of the city’s public school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are in a really profound fight for the schools our students deserve and stability in our schools,” Skyline High School teacher-librarian Dylan Drewry said. “Of course, we at any point want to reach an agreement to avoid that with the district, but we are preparing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> and OEA wrapped up a state-mandated mediation process without a deal. The two sides, which have been bargaining since March, are at odds over wage increases and class sizes, among other issues. They have been at an impasse since November, and OEA educators have been working under an expired contract since June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union is demanding a 12% to 14% raise over two years, contending that its educators are the lowest paid among 10 comparable districts and that OUSD has one of the highest staff turnover rates in the state. Oakland loses 400 teachers every year on average, according to the union, and OEA President Kampala Taiz-Rancifer told KQED that 60% of district teachers can’t afford to live in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD, like San Francisco and other districts across the state, has said that it doesn’t have enough money to fund the union’s requested wage hikes. Instead, it proposed raises of 2.5% in 2026, and up to 5.5% in two phases in 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074290\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074290\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/012_KQED_OaklandTeacherStrike_04292022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/012_KQED_OaklandTeacherStrike_04292022_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/012_KQED_OaklandTeacherStrike_04292022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/012_KQED_OaklandTeacherStrike_04292022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland teachers and members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10, march from Lake Merritt to Oakland City Hall on April 29, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The district has been trying to come to terms that honor OUSD educators for the work they do every day in service of our students, while at the same time staying within our means because of the very real financial challenges with which the district is currently contending,” OUSD said in a statement on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has said it is losing revenue due to declining enrollment and faces a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067547/oakland-schools-in-turmoil-after-two-key-officials-depart-over-budget-crisis\">major budget shortfall\u003c/a>. It’s expected to make $100 million in budget cuts this spring, and this week, the school board is set to vote on whether to issue nearly 400 preliminary layoff notices to staff, including 180 OEA members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a neutral panel composed of members of both the union and district, along with a third-party mediator, affirmed the union’s grievance, saying OUSD’s wage offer was “not competitive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“OEA unit members are at the bottom of the scale compared to the salaries received by educators in neighboring districts,” reads its report, issued last week. Mid-career educators in Fremont make about $117,000 a year, compared to Oakland’s average of $82,700. Berkeley teachers make over $95,000.[aside postID=news_12073310 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/251205-wccusdstrikerally01511_TV_qed.jpg']“The difference in salaries is significant, and a wage increase is necessary and appropriate to aggressively recruit and retain competent educators,” the report continues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The panel, which issues a list of non-binding recommendations, suggested a 6% raise over two years, plus an additional 2% bump for special education teachers. In 2027, it suggested an additional 3% to 4% raise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also noted that the district had not been transparent about its financial situation, adding that, in years past, “at the eleventh hour, the district has found enough funds to either avert or end a strike. Needless to say, there were trust issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, OEA held a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949458/oakland-teachers-strike-ends-as-union-reaches-agreement-with-school-district\">weeklong strike\u003c/a> that ended after teachers won a 15.5% raise over two and a half years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union has said that while OUSD insists it cannot afford to pay higher wages, it spends a significant amount of money on consultants and outside contractors to provide some services, instead of investing in its employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That money, we’re asking to be reinvested in classrooms,” Taiz-Rancifer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that instead of hiring a psychologist for a campus, for example, OUSD sometimes contracts with one through an outside company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you contract out that position, you’re actually costing the district nearly double the amount of money that you would for somebody who works in the district,” she said, adding that sometimes, the contractor works remotely, which requires another adult to supervise. “And in addition, you’re not getting the same kind of quality… [as] hiring somebody on-site that actually could build a relationship, build rapport.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037666\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12037666 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hundreds of Oakland teachers and their supporters converged on Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall on May 4, 2023. \u003ccite>(Aryk Copley for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The fact-finding report found that OUSD spent $316,000 on one outside consultant alone last year. It said the district needs to “wean itself” off consultants and outside contracts by increasing district wages to be more competitive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the district is hiring consultants because they do not have enough qualified employees to handle the positions, then that supports the claim that wages are insufficient to recruit and retain the personnel needed,” wrote the fact-finding panel chairperson, Cheryl Stevens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also said that throughout two days of hearings, the union wanted to bargain over other non-wage-related issues — including changes to the district’s Newcomer program for immigrants and English language learners, and continuation schools — that the district seemed less interested in discussing. Still, Stevens wrote that she believes if the parties can reach an agreement on salaries, they can avert a strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OEA has said it doesn’t plan to strike imminently and is still interested in returning to the bargaining table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[OUSD] can avert a strike if they bring something to the table that educators are willing to accept,” Taiz-Rancifer said. “They need to come with a real offer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/wcruz\">\u003cem>Billy Cruz\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Oakland Teachers Approve a Strike, as Report Calls District’s Pay ‘Not Competitive’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Days after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073306/sfusd-teachers-strike-no-end-in-sight-health-care-battle\">end of a teachers strike\u003c/a> that shut down San Francisco public schools for a week, Oakland educators have authorized their own strike following nearly a year of unsuccessful contract negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The potential work stoppage was supported in voting last week by 91% of Oakland Education Association members, which includes 3,000 teachers, counselors, social workers and other credentialed staff of the city’s public school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are in a really profound fight for the schools our students deserve and stability in our schools,” Skyline High School teacher-librarian Dylan Drewry said. “Of course, we at any point want to reach an agreement to avoid that with the district, but we are preparing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> and OEA wrapped up a state-mandated mediation process without a deal. The two sides, which have been bargaining since March, are at odds over wage increases and class sizes, among other issues. They have been at an impasse since November, and OEA educators have been working under an expired contract since June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union is demanding a 12% to 14% raise over two years, contending that its educators are the lowest paid among 10 comparable districts and that OUSD has one of the highest staff turnover rates in the state. Oakland loses 400 teachers every year on average, according to the union, and OEA President Kampala Taiz-Rancifer told KQED that 60% of district teachers can’t afford to live in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD, like San Francisco and other districts across the state, has said that it doesn’t have enough money to fund the union’s requested wage hikes. Instead, it proposed raises of 2.5% in 2026, and up to 5.5% in two phases in 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074290\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074290\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/012_KQED_OaklandTeacherStrike_04292022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/012_KQED_OaklandTeacherStrike_04292022_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/012_KQED_OaklandTeacherStrike_04292022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/012_KQED_OaklandTeacherStrike_04292022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland teachers and members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10, march from Lake Merritt to Oakland City Hall on April 29, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The district has been trying to come to terms that honor OUSD educators for the work they do every day in service of our students, while at the same time staying within our means because of the very real financial challenges with which the district is currently contending,” OUSD said in a statement on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has said it is losing revenue due to declining enrollment and faces a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067547/oakland-schools-in-turmoil-after-two-key-officials-depart-over-budget-crisis\">major budget shortfall\u003c/a>. It’s expected to make $100 million in budget cuts this spring, and this week, the school board is set to vote on whether to issue nearly 400 preliminary layoff notices to staff, including 180 OEA members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a neutral panel composed of members of both the union and district, along with a third-party mediator, affirmed the union’s grievance, saying OUSD’s wage offer was “not competitive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“OEA unit members are at the bottom of the scale compared to the salaries received by educators in neighboring districts,” reads its report, issued last week. Mid-career educators in Fremont make about $117,000 a year, compared to Oakland’s average of $82,700. Berkeley teachers make over $95,000.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The difference in salaries is significant, and a wage increase is necessary and appropriate to aggressively recruit and retain competent educators,” the report continues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The panel, which issues a list of non-binding recommendations, suggested a 6% raise over two years, plus an additional 2% bump for special education teachers. In 2027, it suggested an additional 3% to 4% raise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also noted that the district had not been transparent about its financial situation, adding that, in years past, “at the eleventh hour, the district has found enough funds to either avert or end a strike. Needless to say, there were trust issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, OEA held a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949458/oakland-teachers-strike-ends-as-union-reaches-agreement-with-school-district\">weeklong strike\u003c/a> that ended after teachers won a 15.5% raise over two and a half years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union has said that while OUSD insists it cannot afford to pay higher wages, it spends a significant amount of money on consultants and outside contractors to provide some services, instead of investing in its employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That money, we’re asking to be reinvested in classrooms,” Taiz-Rancifer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that instead of hiring a psychologist for a campus, for example, OUSD sometimes contracts with one through an outside company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you contract out that position, you’re actually costing the district nearly double the amount of money that you would for somebody who works in the district,” she said, adding that sometimes, the contractor works remotely, which requires another adult to supervise. “And in addition, you’re not getting the same kind of quality… [as] hiring somebody on-site that actually could build a relationship, build rapport.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037666\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12037666 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/DSC7276_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hundreds of Oakland teachers and their supporters converged on Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall on May 4, 2023. \u003ccite>(Aryk Copley for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The fact-finding report found that OUSD spent $316,000 on one outside consultant alone last year. It said the district needs to “wean itself” off consultants and outside contracts by increasing district wages to be more competitive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the district is hiring consultants because they do not have enough qualified employees to handle the positions, then that supports the claim that wages are insufficient to recruit and retain the personnel needed,” wrote the fact-finding panel chairperson, Cheryl Stevens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also said that throughout two days of hearings, the union wanted to bargain over other non-wage-related issues — including changes to the district’s Newcomer program for immigrants and English language learners, and continuation schools — that the district seemed less interested in discussing. Still, Stevens wrote that she believes if the parties can reach an agreement on salaries, they can avert a strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OEA has said it doesn’t plan to strike imminently and is still interested in returning to the bargaining table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[OUSD] can avert a strike if they bring something to the table that educators are willing to accept,” Taiz-Rancifer said. “They need to come with a real offer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/wcruz\">\u003cem>Billy Cruz\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-demands-oakland-schools-make-sweeping-changes-over-antisemitism-complaints",
"title": "California Demands Oakland Schools Make Sweeping Changes Over Antisemitism Complaints",
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"headTitle": "California Demands Oakland Schools Make Sweeping Changes Over Antisemitism Complaints | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The California Department of Education has demanded that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a>’s school district take sweeping corrective actions over allegations of antisemitism on campuses, as schools across the country grapple with how to teach about the war in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a decision of appeal issued last week, the department said it found antisemitic discrimination within the Oakland Unified School District on multiple occasions over the past two years. The determination stemmed from a number of discrimination complaints over Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian posters hung in schools, communications sent by district staff encouraging a ceasefire, and pro-Palestinian curriculum educators created and taught.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“School districts should be nonpolitical,” said Oakland attorney Marleen Sacks, who has filed a number of the complaints that predicated the CDE decision. “Students should be taught how to think and not what to think. And that’s not what’s going on in OUSD.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sacks and the advocacy group Oakland Jewish Alliance have alleged that since the beginning of the war in Gaza in 2023, there has been ongoing pro-Palestinian activism in schools that “created a hostile environment for Jewish students and staff.” The complaints led to a district investigation, which found that there had been “pro-Palestinian propaganda” on district campuses, as well as pro-Palestinian curriculum and instruction in classrooms and political activism by district staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district found that “there has been disparate attention and prioritization via District programs and support for the District’s Arab community compared to the District’s Jewish community,” according to the CDE’s decision last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Sacks said the district didn’t investigate all of the complaints or conduct a thorough enough review, prompting the appeal to the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056824\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12056824\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250919-GAZA-PROTEST-OAKLAND-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250919-GAZA-PROTEST-OAKLAND-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250919-GAZA-PROTEST-OAKLAND-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250919-GAZA-PROTEST-OAKLAND-MD-06-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pro-Palestinian march to the West Oakland BART station after activists blocked an intersection on 7th Street in West Oakland near the 880 freeway on Sept. 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In October, the state found antisemitism in the district on multiple occasions, and last week, issued a new decision building upon those findings, and requiring new remedial measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDE found that, in part, the appeal had merit, and prompted a slew of corrective actions, including: districtwide communications to families and staff condemning antisemitism; training for staff to prevent and remedy antisemitism; and a Board of Education discussion on the CDE’s findings. Some school sites where allegations of discrimination were made must also hold educational assemblies and OUSD will be required to plan ongoing professional development that ensures education doesn’t have discriminatory bias.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sacks said that she believes the decision doesn’t go far enough and plans to ask the state to require OUSD to revisit its own investigation and look into complaints it didn’t previously investigate fully. Still, she said, it marked a “turning point for Jewish and Israeli students and employees in Oakland.”[aside postID=news_12065375 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/240508-Berkeley-High-File-MD-03_qed.jpg']“The evidence clearly showed a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students and families, and the CDE has stepped in to enforce meaningful corrective action,” Sacks said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Musa Tariq, a policy coordinator with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the decision could have a “chilling” effect for educators trying to teach about the war in Gaza across the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There have been coordinated efforts to restrict how Palestine is being discussed in classrooms,” he told KQED. “This decision, unfortunately, is something that will be cited statewide and can embolden complaints designed to intimidate educators rather than addressing real discrimination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, a\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055560/controversial-ca-bill-to-combat-antisemitism-in-schools-races-against-legislative-clock\"> controversial new state law\u003c/a> meant to prevent antisemitism in K-12 schools went into effect, despite concerns from opponents that it could similarly deter educators from discussing criticisms of Israel. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067413/this-lawsuit-aims-to-block-californias-new-k-12-antisemitism-law\">filed a lawsuit in December to block Assembly Bill 715\u003c/a>, but a federal judge \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2026/federal-judge-rejects-injunction-to-block-new-law-on-antisemitism-in-california/748094\">declined\u003c/a> the group’s request to temporarily prevent the law from taking effect as it awaits trial, saying the state, not teachers, should determine what is taught in classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the federal level, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights launched an \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/OCR-FINAL-SIGNED-R-NOT-DRL-Oakland-USD.pdf\">investigation\u003c/a> into OUSD over an unauthorized pro-Palestinian teach-in in December 2023. \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/12/07/oakland-teachers-palestine-teach-in/\">\u003cem>The Oaklandside \u003c/em>reported\u003c/a> that dozens of district teachers coordinated to take time out of their class periods to present Palestinian perspectives on the war in Gaza and provide resources on the history of the conflict to their students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the fall, Congress launched an investigation into the neighboring Berkeley Unified School District and two other school districts across the country over antisemitism concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tariq said schools are supposed to be a space for open and critical discussion, but said the moves represent “a nationwide effort to suppress Palestinian and pro-Palestinian narratives under the guise of fighting antisemitism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe that that’s troubling and counterproductive, and that real education should allow students to wrestle with the complexity of history and understand injustice and truth and not just sanitized versions of history,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Education officials said a district investigation didn’t go far enough to address concerns of Jewish and Israeli students. Critics warned of consequences for free speech.",
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"title": "California Demands Oakland Schools Make Sweeping Changes Over Antisemitism Complaints | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The California Department of Education has demanded that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a>’s school district take sweeping corrective actions over allegations of antisemitism on campuses, as schools across the country grapple with how to teach about the war in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a decision of appeal issued last week, the department said it found antisemitic discrimination within the Oakland Unified School District on multiple occasions over the past two years. The determination stemmed from a number of discrimination complaints over Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian posters hung in schools, communications sent by district staff encouraging a ceasefire, and pro-Palestinian curriculum educators created and taught.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“School districts should be nonpolitical,” said Oakland attorney Marleen Sacks, who has filed a number of the complaints that predicated the CDE decision. “Students should be taught how to think and not what to think. And that’s not what’s going on in OUSD.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sacks and the advocacy group Oakland Jewish Alliance have alleged that since the beginning of the war in Gaza in 2023, there has been ongoing pro-Palestinian activism in schools that “created a hostile environment for Jewish students and staff.” The complaints led to a district investigation, which found that there had been “pro-Palestinian propaganda” on district campuses, as well as pro-Palestinian curriculum and instruction in classrooms and political activism by district staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district found that “there has been disparate attention and prioritization via District programs and support for the District’s Arab community compared to the District’s Jewish community,” according to the CDE’s decision last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Sacks said the district didn’t investigate all of the complaints or conduct a thorough enough review, prompting the appeal to the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056824\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12056824\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250919-GAZA-PROTEST-OAKLAND-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250919-GAZA-PROTEST-OAKLAND-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250919-GAZA-PROTEST-OAKLAND-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250919-GAZA-PROTEST-OAKLAND-MD-06-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pro-Palestinian march to the West Oakland BART station after activists blocked an intersection on 7th Street in West Oakland near the 880 freeway on Sept. 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In October, the state found antisemitism in the district on multiple occasions, and last week, issued a new decision building upon those findings, and requiring new remedial measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDE found that, in part, the appeal had merit, and prompted a slew of corrective actions, including: districtwide communications to families and staff condemning antisemitism; training for staff to prevent and remedy antisemitism; and a Board of Education discussion on the CDE’s findings. Some school sites where allegations of discrimination were made must also hold educational assemblies and OUSD will be required to plan ongoing professional development that ensures education doesn’t have discriminatory bias.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sacks said that she believes the decision doesn’t go far enough and plans to ask the state to require OUSD to revisit its own investigation and look into complaints it didn’t previously investigate fully. Still, she said, it marked a “turning point for Jewish and Israeli students and employees in Oakland.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The evidence clearly showed a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students and families, and the CDE has stepped in to enforce meaningful corrective action,” Sacks said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Musa Tariq, a policy coordinator with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the decision could have a “chilling” effect for educators trying to teach about the war in Gaza across the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There have been coordinated efforts to restrict how Palestine is being discussed in classrooms,” he told KQED. “This decision, unfortunately, is something that will be cited statewide and can embolden complaints designed to intimidate educators rather than addressing real discrimination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, a\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055560/controversial-ca-bill-to-combat-antisemitism-in-schools-races-against-legislative-clock\"> controversial new state law\u003c/a> meant to prevent antisemitism in K-12 schools went into effect, despite concerns from opponents that it could similarly deter educators from discussing criticisms of Israel. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067413/this-lawsuit-aims-to-block-californias-new-k-12-antisemitism-law\">filed a lawsuit in December to block Assembly Bill 715\u003c/a>, but a federal judge \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2026/federal-judge-rejects-injunction-to-block-new-law-on-antisemitism-in-california/748094\">declined\u003c/a> the group’s request to temporarily prevent the law from taking effect as it awaits trial, saying the state, not teachers, should determine what is taught in classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the federal level, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights launched an \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/OCR-FINAL-SIGNED-R-NOT-DRL-Oakland-USD.pdf\">investigation\u003c/a> into OUSD over an unauthorized pro-Palestinian teach-in in December 2023. \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/12/07/oakland-teachers-palestine-teach-in/\">\u003cem>The Oaklandside \u003c/em>reported\u003c/a> that dozens of district teachers coordinated to take time out of their class periods to present Palestinian perspectives on the war in Gaza and provide resources on the history of the conflict to their students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the fall, Congress launched an investigation into the neighboring Berkeley Unified School District and two other school districts across the country over antisemitism concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tariq said schools are supposed to be a space for open and critical discussion, but said the moves represent “a nationwide effort to suppress Palestinian and pro-Palestinian narratives under the guise of fighting antisemitism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe that that’s troubling and counterproductive, and that real education should allow students to wrestle with the complexity of history and understand injustice and truth and not just sanitized versions of history,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "she-stops-school-fights-before-they-start-oakland-may-cut-her-job",
"title": "She Stops School Fights Before They Start. Oakland May Cut Her Job",
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"headTitle": "She Stops School Fights Before They Start. Oakland May Cut Her Job | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>At Castlemont High School in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/deep-east-oakland\">Deep East Oakland\u003c/a>, Phelisha Saffold stands in the sunshine surveying the courtyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today is a good day out,” she says as students sit in clusters, talking and eating lunch. “Drama-free.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She points out the cheerleaders. “They’re not hyphy about nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few yards away, the boys are doing their thing. The courtyard is filled with lively chatter; there are no raised voices, which would signal that things could go sideways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when your antennas come on, and you want to put your ear to it,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over two years working as a school-based violence interrupter at Castlemont, Saffold, 54, has learned to decipher the signs that can precipitate a fight. Yelling is obvious, but sometimes they’re more subtle: A student just seems different one day. Maybe they’re quiet or grumpy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saffold’s duty is to get ahead of conflicts before they boil over into brawls — or worse. It’s a job that took on renewed urgency after a student was shot and injured at the city’s Skyline High School last month, but with Oakland schools \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067547/oakland-schools-in-turmoil-after-two-key-officials-depart-over-budget-crisis\">facing a crippling budget shortfall\u003c/a>, the future of that work is in doubt.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Someone for students to turn to\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The term “violence interrupter” doesn’t mean much to Saffold’s students. To them, she’s a mediator, mentor and confidant. She’s got a dozen “school daughters” who call her “mom,” but her vibe is more cool auntie than nagging parent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This work is a long game — less about swooping in right before a squabble breaks out than it is about building relationships far ahead of time, when there’s no sign of trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066519\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-04-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-04-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-04-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-04-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students Realidy (left), 16, and Nevaeh, 16, talk in the hallway at Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My goal is to get them to understand that they could trust me and they could count on me,” she says. “A lot of the students are not used to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She buys gift cards to celebrate good grades and takes students out to eat, or to a food pantry, if they don’t have groceries at home. For her, that’s part of preventing violence: addressing conditions like neglect and hunger that can give rise to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She checks in on kids, like, ‘Hey, why are you not in class? Are you feeling good today?’ Like, anything and everything,” says 16-year-old junior Nevaeh, who asked to be identified by only her first name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saffold spends most of her time listening to students. All day, they approach her with updates about their minor beefs or major family troubles. They vent and ask for advice, and in between, they keep her keyed into conflicts brewing out of her view on social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You hear that somebody’s about to get into a fight, but she already knows, so she’s stopping both of the girls,” Nevaeh says. “She’ll let other staff members know. She’s like, ‘Watch out for them.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066525\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At lunchtime one day in early December, instead of going outside to eat and talk with friends, Nevaeh and a handful of other students seat themselves at desks circled around Saffold, who greets them with, “There go my girls!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re here to discuss gossip and rumors, one of the biggest sources of campus drama.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to talk about how to navigate around he-say she-say and how to solve your own issues without it escalating,” Saffold says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with the two other members of the school’s violence prevention team, Saffold created this twice-monthly group to focus on building students’ communication skills. It’s voluntary and open to anyone, but it usually ends up being a group of mostly girls who work closely with them.[aside postID=news_11861142 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/02/RS47159_032_Oakland_SkylineHSFootballPractice_02032021-qut-1020x679.jpg']Today, Saffold asks 15-year-old sophomore Kay’Lonnie Jackson to talk about a conflict she’d just worked through. Jackson and two other girls in the group had been clashing over some gossip all week, and that morning they’d finally put it to rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our beef was over some he-say she-say stuff, and both of us was in the wrong for listening and dragging on the beef,” Kay’Lonnie says. “So as a young lady, I went up to her and addressed myself where I was wrong, and she addressed herself where she was wrong and we apologized to each other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is Saffold’s goal: to teach students the skills to defuse arguments and think before they react to provocation. Progress is hard won. In this case, Saffold had met with the girls several times over three days to mediate the dispute before they eventually ended it themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Y’all was driving me crazy this week,” she says. “I felt like I wasn’t getting nowhere. So for you guys to call me today and y’all pretty much fixed it on y’all own, it just made me super proud. It let me know that you guys are listening to what I’m saying.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Saffold dispenses advice, it comes from someone who’s been there: She was once a student at Castlemont — and a self-described hothead who got into her share of fights and ended up in continuation school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066523\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-32-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-32-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-32-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-32-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phelisha Saffold (center), a school-based violence interrupter, talks with students during lunch at Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Things have changed since her high school days. She recognizes the rumor mill that drives conflict, but technology has supercharged it. There’s social media, with its ability to broadcast a slight campus-wide in a second, and the way smartphones have turned students into amateur PIs. “They’ll record a conversation and take it to another student and say, ‘I got proof that this has been said,’” she explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Saffold knows this community because it’s hers. She grew up in East Oakland, “so nine times out of ten if something is going on, I might know your mother, your grandmother, your uncle, your cousin,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this work, that is as important as the training violence interrupters receive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They use that credibility, they use that experience, to gain trust with the individuals that they’re working with,” said David Muhammad, executive director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, which works to reduce violence and incarceration. “They serve as an example for these young people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saffold’s connections help when she needs to involve students’ families to end a conflict — which sometimes means persuading a dad, aunt or cousin not to take things into their own hands and retaliate on behalf of their student.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Vital work at risk\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Today, most large urban districts in the country have some kind of violence intervention specialists on campus, said Muhammad, who has helped lead gun violence prevention strategies in cities nationwide, including Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here, Saffold is part of a violence prevention ecosystem developed after the district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13893831/oakland-eliminated-its-school-police-force-so-what-happens-now\">dissolved its school police department\u003c/a> in the wake of the George Floyd protests and committed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989638/how-oakland-schools-strive-to-defuse-conflict-without-police-intervention\">overhauling its approach to safety\u003c/a>. She works with the former school security officers, now called “culture keepers,” who are focused on de-escalation and trauma-informed restorative practices, along with counselors and social workers, among others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066522\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066522\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-27-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-27-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-27-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-27-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phelisha Saffold (center), a school-based violence interrupter, talks with Tierra Rogers (left), a gender violence specialist, and Ebony Gray, a case manager, at Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Two of her closest allies on campus are the gender-based-violence specialist, who focuses on dating violence, sexual assault and exploitation, and the life coach, something between a mentor and a case manager who works intensively with students. The trio are part of a pilot program rolled out at seven high schools across the district beginning in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These three-person School Violence Intervention and Prevention Program teams are paid for by the city’s Department of Violence Prevention using money voters \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/Government/City-Council-Leadership/Measures/Measure-Z-Reports-and-Evaluations\">allocated for improving public safety\u003c/a> through 2014’s Measure Z. The department funds community-based organizations like Saffold’s employer, the nonprofit Youth Alive, to carry out the work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/files/assets/city/v/1/city-administrator/documents/measure-z/final-interim-eval-school-vip-12.10.24.pdf\">A city-funded evaluation of the program\u003c/a> by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization, found that from its start in 2022-23 through the end of the 2023-24 school year, violence interrupters held 681 mediations. Almost 60% were proactive, while 11% were aimed at preventing retaliation. Overall, evaluators called the pilot program “promising,” though they noted that it was understaffed and underresourced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064018/oakland-violence-prevention-program-at-risk-as-skyline-high-shooting-renews-urgency\">funding is set to sunset\u003c/a> at the end of the school year, and the district is in no position to pick up the tab — the Oakland school board \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/12/11/ousd-oakland-public-school-board-vote-102-million-cuts/\">just approved a plan to cut $100 million\u003c/a> from next year’s budget amid \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067547/oakland-schools-in-turmoil-after-two-key-officials-depart-over-budget-crisis\">leadership turmoil\u003c/a> as it looks to avoid another state takeover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson Alegria, the district’s newly minted executive director of safety, said administrators parsing data to try to streamline the program might pare away positions at some schools and staff up at others. But the program as a whole, he said, would stay largely intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066524\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066524\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-34-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-34-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-34-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-34-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phelisha Saffold, a school-based violence interrupter, sits at Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Safety is a top priority,” he said. “We want to make sure everybody understands that safety is not one of those things that we’re putting on the table to be cut.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School board director Mike Hutchinson, who chairs the Budget and Finance Committee, has doubts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an extreme financial crisis of the likes we’ve never seen,” he said, noting that it could be a struggle for the district to fund even its core educational programming. “I’m concerned about a lot of our programs, from our culture keepers on campus to our restorative justice programs to definitely our violence interruption teams.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson said he plans to sit down with the head of the Department of Violence Prevention to discuss alternative funding sources, citing the Skyline High shooting as proof the district needs to double down on violence interrupters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Castlemont’s principal, Joseph Blasher, their work is essential. “You can’t learn if you don’t feel safe,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He credits campus violence prevention efforts for helping to \u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/ChronicAbsence_0/Comparison?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=no&%3Arender=false#40\">boost\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/AbsenceDasboardPublic/AbsenceAnalysisSnapshot?%3AshowAppBanner=false&%3Adisplay_count=n&%3Aembed=y\">attendance\u003c/a> and cohort \u003ca href=\"https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/dqcensus/CohRate.aspx?cds=01612590125161&agglevel=school&year=2024-25&initrow=&ro=y\">graduation rates\u003c/a> and get families more engaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I couldn’t imagine all of us just having to leave the campus. That would just be traumatizing,” Saffold said. “Not just for the students — I think for us as well, because we build these bonds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>More than just a job\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Bonding with teenagers and getting them to open up, even those Saffold has grown closest to, is a skill that takes constant upkeep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saffold’s is on display when she spots junior Tamiya Easley, 17, at lunch one afternoon. “You know we need to talk, right?” Saffold says. “About yesterday.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tamiya tries to dodge her. “What did I do yesterday?” she asks. “I didn’t even do nothing yesterday!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068134\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068134\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDViolenceInterrupter-18-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDViolenceInterrupter-18-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDViolenceInterrupter-18-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDViolenceInterrupter-18-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phelisha Saffold (right), a school-based violence interrupter, talks with a student at Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to talk about it,” Saffold says with a laugh. She gives Tamiya a sly smile and another warm “We’ll talk about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That disarms Tamiya. “Oh, when I was upstairs tripping?” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, you of all people,” Saffold says with a tone that lets Tamiya know she expected better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mom! It’s because I don’t like disrespect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tamiya explains that she heard some students had been talking about her. She got heated and they got defensive. But she ended up apologizing and it blew over.[aside postID=news_12064511 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251118_SKYLINE_WALKOUT_GH-18-KQED.jpg']Saffold applauds. “That’s what I’m talking about!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My anger got the best of me. I know that,” Tamiya says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saffold often reminds her students that this isn’t just a job for her. She loves it, but it’s more than that. It’s deeply personal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to say it’s what saved my life, but it’s what helps me get through the loss of my son,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saffold’s son was shot and killed four years ago, when he was 28. And her son’s father died the same way 32 years ago. She said neither of them was in a gang or violent. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She tells students their stories to drive home a point: “If you’re kicking off violence, you’re not going to always be the winner.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She keeps it real,” 16-year-old sophomore Kamarion Warner says, sitting across from Saffold during the lunchtime group meeting. Saffold proved to him how much she cares about students when he briefly moved to Stockton in ninth grade and she enlisted her granddaughter, who lives there, to take him under her wing at school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She wants you to succeed,” Kamarion says. “You just have to be willing to listen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m trying to change lives. You guys know my story,” she tells the group. “If I could just save one of y’all, then I feel like I’ve succeeded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A recent shooting at Skyline High School brought renewed urgency to the job done by “violence interrupters,” who play a big role in keeping students safe. But OUSD’s budget shortfall means the future of that work is in doubt. ",
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"title": "She Stops School Fights Before They Start. Oakland May Cut Her Job | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>At Castlemont High School in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/deep-east-oakland\">Deep East Oakland\u003c/a>, Phelisha Saffold stands in the sunshine surveying the courtyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today is a good day out,” she says as students sit in clusters, talking and eating lunch. “Drama-free.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She points out the cheerleaders. “They’re not hyphy about nothing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few yards away, the boys are doing their thing. The courtyard is filled with lively chatter; there are no raised voices, which would signal that things could go sideways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s when your antennas come on, and you want to put your ear to it,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over two years working as a school-based violence interrupter at Castlemont, Saffold, 54, has learned to decipher the signs that can precipitate a fight. Yelling is obvious, but sometimes they’re more subtle: A student just seems different one day. Maybe they’re quiet or grumpy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saffold’s duty is to get ahead of conflicts before they boil over into brawls — or worse. It’s a job that took on renewed urgency after a student was shot and injured at the city’s Skyline High School last month, but with Oakland schools \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067547/oakland-schools-in-turmoil-after-two-key-officials-depart-over-budget-crisis\">facing a crippling budget shortfall\u003c/a>, the future of that work is in doubt.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Someone for students to turn to\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The term “violence interrupter” doesn’t mean much to Saffold’s students. To them, she’s a mediator, mentor and confidant. She’s got a dozen “school daughters” who call her “mom,” but her vibe is more cool auntie than nagging parent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This work is a long game — less about swooping in right before a squabble breaks out than it is about building relationships far ahead of time, when there’s no sign of trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066519\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-04-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-04-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-04-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-04-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students Realidy (left), 16, and Nevaeh, 16, talk in the hallway at Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My goal is to get them to understand that they could trust me and they could count on me,” she says. “A lot of the students are not used to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She buys gift cards to celebrate good grades and takes students out to eat, or to a food pantry, if they don’t have groceries at home. For her, that’s part of preventing violence: addressing conditions like neglect and hunger that can give rise to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She checks in on kids, like, ‘Hey, why are you not in class? Are you feeling good today?’ Like, anything and everything,” says 16-year-old junior Nevaeh, who asked to be identified by only her first name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saffold spends most of her time listening to students. All day, they approach her with updates about their minor beefs or major family troubles. They vent and ask for advice, and in between, they keep her keyed into conflicts brewing out of her view on social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You hear that somebody’s about to get into a fight, but she already knows, so she’s stopping both of the girls,” Nevaeh says. “She’ll let other staff members know. She’s like, ‘Watch out for them.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066525\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At lunchtime one day in early December, instead of going outside to eat and talk with friends, Nevaeh and a handful of other students seat themselves at desks circled around Saffold, who greets them with, “There go my girls!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re here to discuss gossip and rumors, one of the biggest sources of campus drama.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to talk about how to navigate around he-say she-say and how to solve your own issues without it escalating,” Saffold says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with the two other members of the school’s violence prevention team, Saffold created this twice-monthly group to focus on building students’ communication skills. It’s voluntary and open to anyone, but it usually ends up being a group of mostly girls who work closely with them.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Today, Saffold asks 15-year-old sophomore Kay’Lonnie Jackson to talk about a conflict she’d just worked through. Jackson and two other girls in the group had been clashing over some gossip all week, and that morning they’d finally put it to rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our beef was over some he-say she-say stuff, and both of us was in the wrong for listening and dragging on the beef,” Kay’Lonnie says. “So as a young lady, I went up to her and addressed myself where I was wrong, and she addressed herself where she was wrong and we apologized to each other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is Saffold’s goal: to teach students the skills to defuse arguments and think before they react to provocation. Progress is hard won. In this case, Saffold had met with the girls several times over three days to mediate the dispute before they eventually ended it themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Y’all was driving me crazy this week,” she says. “I felt like I wasn’t getting nowhere. So for you guys to call me today and y’all pretty much fixed it on y’all own, it just made me super proud. It let me know that you guys are listening to what I’m saying.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Saffold dispenses advice, it comes from someone who’s been there: She was once a student at Castlemont — and a self-described hothead who got into her share of fights and ended up in continuation school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066523\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066523\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-32-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-32-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-32-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-32-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phelisha Saffold (center), a school-based violence interrupter, talks with students during lunch at Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Things have changed since her high school days. She recognizes the rumor mill that drives conflict, but technology has supercharged it. There’s social media, with its ability to broadcast a slight campus-wide in a second, and the way smartphones have turned students into amateur PIs. “They’ll record a conversation and take it to another student and say, ‘I got proof that this has been said,’” she explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Saffold knows this community because it’s hers. She grew up in East Oakland, “so nine times out of ten if something is going on, I might know your mother, your grandmother, your uncle, your cousin,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this work, that is as important as the training violence interrupters receive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They use that credibility, they use that experience, to gain trust with the individuals that they’re working with,” said David Muhammad, executive director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, which works to reduce violence and incarceration. “They serve as an example for these young people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saffold’s connections help when she needs to involve students’ families to end a conflict — which sometimes means persuading a dad, aunt or cousin not to take things into their own hands and retaliate on behalf of their student.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Vital work at risk\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Today, most large urban districts in the country have some kind of violence intervention specialists on campus, said Muhammad, who has helped lead gun violence prevention strategies in cities nationwide, including Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here, Saffold is part of a violence prevention ecosystem developed after the district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13893831/oakland-eliminated-its-school-police-force-so-what-happens-now\">dissolved its school police department\u003c/a> in the wake of the George Floyd protests and committed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989638/how-oakland-schools-strive-to-defuse-conflict-without-police-intervention\">overhauling its approach to safety\u003c/a>. She works with the former school security officers, now called “culture keepers,” who are focused on de-escalation and trauma-informed restorative practices, along with counselors and social workers, among others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066522\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066522\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-27-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-27-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-27-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-27-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phelisha Saffold (center), a school-based violence interrupter, talks with Tierra Rogers (left), a gender violence specialist, and Ebony Gray, a case manager, at Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Two of her closest allies on campus are the gender-based-violence specialist, who focuses on dating violence, sexual assault and exploitation, and the life coach, something between a mentor and a case manager who works intensively with students. The trio are part of a pilot program rolled out at seven high schools across the district beginning in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These three-person School Violence Intervention and Prevention Program teams are paid for by the city’s Department of Violence Prevention using money voters \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/Government/City-Council-Leadership/Measures/Measure-Z-Reports-and-Evaluations\">allocated for improving public safety\u003c/a> through 2014’s Measure Z. The department funds community-based organizations like Saffold’s employer, the nonprofit Youth Alive, to carry out the work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandca.gov/files/assets/city/v/1/city-administrator/documents/measure-z/final-interim-eval-school-vip-12.10.24.pdf\">A city-funded evaluation of the program\u003c/a> by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization, found that from its start in 2022-23 through the end of the 2023-24 school year, violence interrupters held 681 mediations. Almost 60% were proactive, while 11% were aimed at preventing retaliation. Overall, evaluators called the pilot program “promising,” though they noted that it was understaffed and underresourced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064018/oakland-violence-prevention-program-at-risk-as-skyline-high-shooting-renews-urgency\">funding is set to sunset\u003c/a> at the end of the school year, and the district is in no position to pick up the tab — the Oakland school board \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/12/11/ousd-oakland-public-school-board-vote-102-million-cuts/\">just approved a plan to cut $100 million\u003c/a> from next year’s budget amid \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067547/oakland-schools-in-turmoil-after-two-key-officials-depart-over-budget-crisis\">leadership turmoil\u003c/a> as it looks to avoid another state takeover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson Alegria, the district’s newly minted executive director of safety, said administrators parsing data to try to streamline the program might pare away positions at some schools and staff up at others. But the program as a whole, he said, would stay largely intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066524\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066524\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-34-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-34-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-34-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-34-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phelisha Saffold, a school-based violence interrupter, sits at Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Safety is a top priority,” he said. “We want to make sure everybody understands that safety is not one of those things that we’re putting on the table to be cut.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School board director Mike Hutchinson, who chairs the Budget and Finance Committee, has doubts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is an extreme financial crisis of the likes we’ve never seen,” he said, noting that it could be a struggle for the district to fund even its core educational programming. “I’m concerned about a lot of our programs, from our culture keepers on campus to our restorative justice programs to definitely our violence interruption teams.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson said he plans to sit down with the head of the Department of Violence Prevention to discuss alternative funding sources, citing the Skyline High shooting as proof the district needs to double down on violence interrupters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Castlemont’s principal, Joseph Blasher, their work is essential. “You can’t learn if you don’t feel safe,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He credits campus violence prevention efforts for helping to \u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/ChronicAbsence_0/Comparison?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=no&%3Arender=false#40\">boost\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/AbsenceDasboardPublic/AbsenceAnalysisSnapshot?%3AshowAppBanner=false&%3Adisplay_count=n&%3Aembed=y\">attendance\u003c/a> and cohort \u003ca href=\"https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/dqcensus/CohRate.aspx?cds=01612590125161&agglevel=school&year=2024-25&initrow=&ro=y\">graduation rates\u003c/a> and get families more engaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I couldn’t imagine all of us just having to leave the campus. That would just be traumatizing,” Saffold said. “Not just for the students — I think for us as well, because we build these bonds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>More than just a job\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Bonding with teenagers and getting them to open up, even those Saffold has grown closest to, is a skill that takes constant upkeep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saffold’s is on display when she spots junior Tamiya Easley, 17, at lunch one afternoon. “You know we need to talk, right?” Saffold says. “About yesterday.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tamiya tries to dodge her. “What did I do yesterday?” she asks. “I didn’t even do nothing yesterday!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068134\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068134\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDViolenceInterrupter-18-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDViolenceInterrupter-18-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDViolenceInterrupter-18-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDViolenceInterrupter-18-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Phelisha Saffold (right), a school-based violence interrupter, talks with a student at Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to talk about it,” Saffold says with a laugh. She gives Tamiya a sly smile and another warm “We’ll talk about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That disarms Tamiya. “Oh, when I was upstairs tripping?” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, you of all people,” Saffold says with a tone that lets Tamiya know she expected better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mom! It’s because I don’t like disrespect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tamiya explains that she heard some students had been talking about her. She got heated and they got defensive. But she ended up apologizing and it blew over.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Saffold applauds. “That’s what I’m talking about!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My anger got the best of me. I know that,” Tamiya says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saffold often reminds her students that this isn’t just a job for her. She loves it, but it’s more than that. It’s deeply personal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t want to say it’s what saved my life, but it’s what helps me get through the loss of my son,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saffold’s son was shot and killed four years ago, when he was 28. And her son’s father died the same way 32 years ago. She said neither of them was in a gang or violent. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She tells students their stories to drive home a point: “If you’re kicking off violence, you’re not going to always be the winner.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She keeps it real,” 16-year-old sophomore Kamarion Warner says, sitting across from Saffold during the lunchtime group meeting. Saffold proved to him how much she cares about students when he briefly moved to Stockton in ninth grade and she enlisted her granddaughter, who lives there, to take him under her wing at school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She wants you to succeed,” Kamarion says. “You just have to be willing to listen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m trying to change lives. You guys know my story,” she tells the group. “If I could just save one of y’all, then I feel like I’ve succeeded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "oakland-schools-in-turmoil-after-two-key-officials-depart-over-budget-crisis",
"title": "Oakland Schools in Turmoil After 2 Key Officials Depart Over Budget Crisis",
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"headTitle": "Oakland Schools in Turmoil After 2 Key Officials Depart Over Budget Crisis | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Last week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055977/ousd-just-got-control-of-its-finances-back-from-the-state-its-already-in-major-trouble\">tensions in Oakland’s school district\u003c/a> over how to stave off a massive budget shortfall came to a head when the district’s top financial officer abruptly resigned, and its chief of staff was terminated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lisa Grant-Dawson, who was brought into the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> in 2020 to lead it out of two decades under state oversight, submitted her resignation on Friday, she told KQED. That same day, Chief of Staff Dan Bellino, who’s been with the district since July, was released by interim Superintendent Denise Saddler without warning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Bellino confirmed he’d not been given cause for the termination, Grant-Dawson said her decision to leave came after she and Bellino, with other colleagues, led a weekslong budget planning effort to right a $102 million budget deficit projected next year, and planned to present last Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But two days before the presentation, she said, Saddler revealed a different plan, crafted without the budget chief’s knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I learned on Monday morning that the superintendent sought to lead in a different direction with the budget scenarios that were ultimately presented to the board. And opted to not inform me and other colleagues in advance of her decision,” Grant-Dawson told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I don’t participate in is side-swiping.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12029339 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One parent comforts another as she becomes emotional while making a public comment to the Oakland Unified School District Board about a proposed merger during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a statement shared with OUSD families, Saddler said she planned to bring on a team of external fiscal experts as the district prepares next year’s budget. Former Oakland City Councilmember Lynette McElhaney will take over as chief of staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As superintendent, it is my job to ensure the district has the right leadership structure, alignment and urgency to meet the work that lies ahead of us,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement on social media, Board Vice President Valarie Bachelor said she supported Saddler’s decision, and “her need to develop a Senior Leadership Team that can support our district through the next phase of the work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The major leadership shakeup comes after months of tension between Oakland’s school leaders.[aside postID=news_12064579 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241009-OAKLAND-YOUTH-VOTE-MD-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg']Earlier this year, a teachers union-backed board majority overrode adopted budget cuts in favor of a proposal that was ultimately reversed after it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041279/ousd-cancels-controversial-after-school-cuts-but-deep-divisions-within-school-board-remain\">threatened to cancel some after-school programs\u003c/a>. In April, the same cohort \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037315/oakland-school-board-votes-remove-superintendent-sparking-worries-instability\">ousted longtime Superintendent\u003c/a> Kyla Johnson-Trammel. And throughout the year, the board majority has sparred with district staff about how to address a structural funding shortfall and years of declining enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That conflict \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059238/alameda-county-to-oakland-schools-reduce-costs-or-lose-financial-independence-again\">escalated in October\u003c/a>, when the board requested staff bring forward two budget proposals to cut $100 million in ongoing expenditures without closing or merging schools, or directly affecting students at school sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An initial proposal presented by Grant-Dawson last month identified \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064579/oaklands-school-district-must-cut-100-million-its-proposed-plan-doesnt-get-close\">$21 million in cuts\u003c/a> within those bounds. To reach the $100 million figure, though, she said campuses would need to be impacted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re a school district. And a school district’s majority of its funds are in schools,” Grant-Dawson said at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since that initial proposal, Grant-Dawson said the senior leadership team had spent many long days developing two plans to realize the other $80 million in cuts necessary to stay solvent next year. She and Bellino had been the main editors of those documents, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037460\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037460\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District parents, students and supporters attend a board meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We submitted the version we were working on. The whole team saw it and knew it was being submitted,” she told KQED. “I was notified that there was a change made the next day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal that Saddler ultimately presented on Wednesday promises $102 million in cuts through major school site and administrative reductions. But Grant-Dawson said it lacks a roadmap that proves it can be implemented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no math or evidence behind it,” she said, adding that she believes ultimately, the superintendent presented a plan that “she felt the board wanted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It accounts for a $20 million boost in revenue from growing attendance in each of the next two years. While the district has seen a 1.8% growth this year so far, it can’t guarantee efforts to recruit students will yield those results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the $21 million in administrative cuts laid out last month, the proposal also recommends slashing another 15-20% of central office spending, and between 7.5-10% from each campus budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056738\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12056738 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified students and parents make signs to support teachers at a ‘solidarity school’ in Diamond Park, Oakland, on May 11, 2023, during an Oakland Unified School District teachers’ strike. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To make such large reductions at school sites would likely require cutting programs or staff funded by restricted sources earmarked for specific purposes, which wouldn’t yield savings that can be reappropriated wherever the district sees fit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another line item reduces special education funding by “restructuring and reducing outside contracts, management, and programmatic elements,” but there is no description of what services and contracts OUSD could reduce while meeting its legal mandate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality,” Grant-Dawson said, is “you don’t have a list of $100 million that’s legit[imate].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make such large cuts to school site budgets, both Saddler and Grant-Dawson have said the district will have to rethink how many schools it operates.[aside postID=news_12040189 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/Photo3_qed-1020x680.jpg']“From where I sit, there is no feasible or reasonable alternative,” Saddler wrote in her proposal. “The District must be restructured — schools and central offices. If the Board makes a commitment to truly restructure OUSD, it must see it through this time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s not clear that savings from that effort could be realized by next fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t just flip a switch, especially when you’re trying to drive that magnitude of the change, in one year,” Grant-Dawson said. “We’ve said that if we’re going to do any restructuring work, it takes at least a year to even plan, engage and all those things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal Grant-Dawson said her team had submitted, which was not presented on Wednesday, but was included in the documents given to the board ahead of the vote, suggested that the district might need to borrow money from an external source to bridge the gap as it does that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also remains to be seen whether the school board will follow through on a plan to close schools. In recent years, OUSD’s board has made \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">multiple commitments to do so\u003c/a> that haven’t come to fruition. In 2022, the board approved 11 campus consolidations, but reversed them before they took effect the following year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grant-Dawson said she doesn’t believe the board has the appetite to take up that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Reading the tea leaves, what I said to the district was, ‘You asked me to help support leading you out of receivership, but I don’t lead people back in,’” Grant-Dawson told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The sudden turnover followed a challenging year for OUSD, which must reduce the budget by $100 million to avoid sliding back into state receivership. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Last week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055977/ousd-just-got-control-of-its-finances-back-from-the-state-its-already-in-major-trouble\">tensions in Oakland’s school district\u003c/a> over how to stave off a massive budget shortfall came to a head when the district’s top financial officer abruptly resigned, and its chief of staff was terminated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lisa Grant-Dawson, who was brought into the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> in 2020 to lead it out of two decades under state oversight, submitted her resignation on Friday, she told KQED. That same day, Chief of Staff Dan Bellino, who’s been with the district since July, was released by interim Superintendent Denise Saddler without warning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Bellino confirmed he’d not been given cause for the termination, Grant-Dawson said her decision to leave came after she and Bellino, with other colleagues, led a weekslong budget planning effort to right a $102 million budget deficit projected next year, and planned to present last Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But two days before the presentation, she said, Saddler revealed a different plan, crafted without the budget chief’s knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I learned on Monday morning that the superintendent sought to lead in a different direction with the budget scenarios that were ultimately presented to the board. And opted to not inform me and other colleagues in advance of her decision,” Grant-Dawson told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I don’t participate in is side-swiping.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12029339 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One parent comforts another as she becomes emotional while making a public comment to the Oakland Unified School District Board about a proposed merger during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a statement shared with OUSD families, Saddler said she planned to bring on a team of external fiscal experts as the district prepares next year’s budget. Former Oakland City Councilmember Lynette McElhaney will take over as chief of staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As superintendent, it is my job to ensure the district has the right leadership structure, alignment and urgency to meet the work that lies ahead of us,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement on social media, Board Vice President Valarie Bachelor said she supported Saddler’s decision, and “her need to develop a Senior Leadership Team that can support our district through the next phase of the work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The major leadership shakeup comes after months of tension between Oakland’s school leaders.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Earlier this year, a teachers union-backed board majority overrode adopted budget cuts in favor of a proposal that was ultimately reversed after it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041279/ousd-cancels-controversial-after-school-cuts-but-deep-divisions-within-school-board-remain\">threatened to cancel some after-school programs\u003c/a>. In April, the same cohort \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037315/oakland-school-board-votes-remove-superintendent-sparking-worries-instability\">ousted longtime Superintendent\u003c/a> Kyla Johnson-Trammel. And throughout the year, the board majority has sparred with district staff about how to address a structural funding shortfall and years of declining enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That conflict \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059238/alameda-county-to-oakland-schools-reduce-costs-or-lose-financial-independence-again\">escalated in October\u003c/a>, when the board requested staff bring forward two budget proposals to cut $100 million in ongoing expenditures without closing or merging schools, or directly affecting students at school sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An initial proposal presented by Grant-Dawson last month identified \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064579/oaklands-school-district-must-cut-100-million-its-proposed-plan-doesnt-get-close\">$21 million in cuts\u003c/a> within those bounds. To reach the $100 million figure, though, she said campuses would need to be impacted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re a school district. And a school district’s majority of its funds are in schools,” Grant-Dawson said at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since that initial proposal, Grant-Dawson said the senior leadership team had spent many long days developing two plans to realize the other $80 million in cuts necessary to stay solvent next year. She and Bellino had been the main editors of those documents, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037460\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037460\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District parents, students and supporters attend a board meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We submitted the version we were working on. The whole team saw it and knew it was being submitted,” she told KQED. “I was notified that there was a change made the next day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal that Saddler ultimately presented on Wednesday promises $102 million in cuts through major school site and administrative reductions. But Grant-Dawson said it lacks a roadmap that proves it can be implemented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no math or evidence behind it,” she said, adding that she believes ultimately, the superintendent presented a plan that “she felt the board wanted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It accounts for a $20 million boost in revenue from growing attendance in each of the next two years. While the district has seen a 1.8% growth this year so far, it can’t guarantee efforts to recruit students will yield those results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the $21 million in administrative cuts laid out last month, the proposal also recommends slashing another 15-20% of central office spending, and between 7.5-10% from each campus budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056738\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12056738 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified students and parents make signs to support teachers at a ‘solidarity school’ in Diamond Park, Oakland, on May 11, 2023, during an Oakland Unified School District teachers’ strike. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To make such large reductions at school sites would likely require cutting programs or staff funded by restricted sources earmarked for specific purposes, which wouldn’t yield savings that can be reappropriated wherever the district sees fit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another line item reduces special education funding by “restructuring and reducing outside contracts, management, and programmatic elements,” but there is no description of what services and contracts OUSD could reduce while meeting its legal mandate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality,” Grant-Dawson said, is “you don’t have a list of $100 million that’s legit[imate].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make such large cuts to school site budgets, both Saddler and Grant-Dawson have said the district will have to rethink how many schools it operates.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“From where I sit, there is no feasible or reasonable alternative,” Saddler wrote in her proposal. “The District must be restructured — schools and central offices. If the Board makes a commitment to truly restructure OUSD, it must see it through this time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s not clear that savings from that effort could be realized by next fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t just flip a switch, especially when you’re trying to drive that magnitude of the change, in one year,” Grant-Dawson said. “We’ve said that if we’re going to do any restructuring work, it takes at least a year to even plan, engage and all those things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal Grant-Dawson said her team had submitted, which was not presented on Wednesday, but was included in the documents given to the board ahead of the vote, suggested that the district might need to borrow money from an external source to bridge the gap as it does that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also remains to be seen whether the school board will follow through on a plan to close schools. In recent years, OUSD’s board has made \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">multiple commitments to do so\u003c/a> that haven’t come to fruition. In 2022, the board approved 11 campus consolidations, but reversed them before they took effect the following year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grant-Dawson said she doesn’t believe the board has the appetite to take up that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Reading the tea leaves, what I said to the district was, ‘You asked me to help support leading you out of receivership, but I don’t lead people back in,’” Grant-Dawson told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "oaklands-school-district-must-cut-100-million-its-proposed-plan-doesnt-get-close",
"title": "Oakland's School District Must Cut $100 Million. Its Proposed Plan Doesn't Get Close",
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"headTitle": "Oakland’s School District Must Cut $100 Million. Its Proposed Plan Doesn’t Get Close | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>As Oakland’s school district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062643/oakland-unified-wins-budget-approval-but-faces-dire-warning-on-financial-future\">faces fiscal insolvency\u003c/a>, its top budget official is warning that the school board’s unwillingness to cut services could make it impossible to balance a budget next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a>’s board directed staff to prepare two plans that cut $100 million from the 2026–27 budget to stay afloat. That demand came with broad parameters: no school closures or mergers, maintaining school resources and student-facing roles and reducing the district’s administrative arm — the “central office.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re a school district. And a school district’s majority of its funds are in schools,” Chief Business Officer Lisa Grant-Dawson said. “There’s not $100 million in the central office.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two budget scenarios staff plan to present to the school board on Wednesday would cut far less than their goal. The more scant version would total $21.8 million in savings and recommends cutting 53 roles across administrative offices, with the greatest reductions in communications and the Superintendent’s office, a department which trains and supports new employees, fiscal services and academics. The other would only cut six roles and save the district $16.8 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board President Jennifer Brouhard, who co-authored the resolution directing staff to propose the cuts, said it was an “initial direction,” but that she and other board members “understood from the start that further discussions with the Superintendent would be necessary to identify additional cuts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12041367\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12041367 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1316\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-800x526.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-1020x671.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-1536x1011.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-1920x1263.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District board president Jennifer Brouhard speaks during a meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said the board also asked staff to consider other elements of the district’s spending, including a potential restructuring of its school “networks,” or groups of schools that are under the purview of a network superintendent, and plans to increase revenue through enrollment and identification of services that the district can deliver in-house instead of contracting out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At our next special meeting on Dec. 3, I am excited to see plans for the remaining components of the resolution,” Brouhard said via email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget crisis comes after years of warnings from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12027158/how-oakland-and-sf-ended-up-among-7-ca-school-districts-who-cant-pay-their-bills\">state watchdogs\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059238/alameda-county-to-oakland-schools-reduce-costs-or-lose-financial-independence-again\">county and district officials\u003c/a> that OUSD is outspending its revenue, setting it on the path toward bankruptcy. The district did declare bankruptcy in 2003 and was bailed out by a loan from the state that came with decades of intense oversight, but \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043062/as-ousd-gets-closer-to-controlling-its-finances-new-budget-challenges-loom\">made its final loan payment over the summer\u003c/a>.[aside postID=news_12059238 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OUSD-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg']Even so, the past few years have been rocky — OUSD has outspent its revenue by up to $4 million per month, forcing service cuts and spending down a strong reserve fund built up during the pandemic, when schools received hefty relief payments from the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some board members and the teachers’ union have long blamed OUSD’s central office for the overspending problem, calling it bloated and pointing to the high salaries of top officials. But Grant-Dawson said recent cuts have already relied heavily on shrinking the administration, making deeper reductions to non-student services difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the board accepts a proposed reduction in its number of cleaning staff, Grant-Dawson said the district will ask school sites to utilize fewer classrooms and buildings on their campuses. Likewise, laying off employees in the budget office means school sites will have less flexibility in how they spend their site-specific funding, since there won’t be a district staff member to help implement those changes in the larger budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to be able to do less,” Grant-Dawson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A slim, four-member board majority led by Brouhard passed the resolution calling for the reduction plans last month, after hours of circling debate over how to address OUSD’s dire budget situation, while maintaining student and school resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912882\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11912882\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Kids play outside at school.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students play a game during recess at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland on April 28, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The same contingent, which is backed by the teachers’ union, has pushed through a number of controversial proposals since January, including amendments to last year’s budget reduction plan that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041279/ousd-cancels-controversial-after-school-cuts-but-deep-divisions-within-school-board-remain\">unintentionally cut after-school programs\u003c/a> and had to be reversed and a shocking deal to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037315/oakland-school-board-votes-remove-superintendent-sparking-worries-instability\">part with longtime Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell\u003c/a> before the end of her contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout the year, the board’s already tense relationship with district staff, and each other, has grown increasingly tenuous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the spring, Grant-Dawson said she warned the board that their budget-balancing amendments could have unintended consequences, like the after-school program funding snafu, before it passed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we did do that, it was like, ‘The staff is trying to keep us from [doing what we want],’” Grant-Dawson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029337\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029337\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Board takes public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Having to present the plan that made the cuts, then later reverse them, created more work for her team. So has developing budget-balancing plans year after year at the board’s direction, then watching as many go unimplemented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“OUSD’s history reveals an undeniable pattern: requesting plans, then disregarding them; rejecting staff recommendations; changing direction and directions, and, when difficult decisions are finally made, rescinding them shortly thereafter,” Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro said in a letter to OUSD last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She told KQED that balancing the budget under the current circumstances “is absolutely 100% possible, but it would require a really significant change of pattern and action.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our business team has been alerting the Board and the community about these oncoming financial challenges for several years,” Interim Superintendent Denise Saddler, who took over this summer while the district searches for a new permanent leader, wrote in a letter to families earlier this month. “We could see the need to take measures to mitigate the financial drop off on the horizon, and we have made clear the need to make hard choices long before now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056737\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12056737 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District parents, students and community leaders rally in support of improved schools, ahead of an OUSD board meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Saddler said it would be impossible to make the massive budget reduction — which equals about 20% of the district’s unrestricted funding — without impacting students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People we know and care about will lose their jobs. Programs our students love will be reduced or eliminated. Services our families depend on will change,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all of the staff reductions in either budget scenario would necessarily come through layoffs. The district plans to offer employees who are over the age of 55 and have served in OUSD for at least five years an early retirement buy-out in June, and the school board directed the superintendent to implement a hiring freeze last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board is supposed to vote on its budget cut plan next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grant-Dawson said prior to Wednesday’s meeting, she hadn’t discussed the partial proposals with board members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not in that place,” she said. “They haven’t reached out. They don’t reach out like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The budget crisis follows years of warnings from state watchdogs and officials that OUSD is outspending revenue, and on the path toward bankruptcy — again. ",
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"title": "Oakland's School District Must Cut $100 Million. Its Proposed Plan Doesn't Get Close | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As Oakland’s school district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062643/oakland-unified-wins-budget-approval-but-faces-dire-warning-on-financial-future\">faces fiscal insolvency\u003c/a>, its top budget official is warning that the school board’s unwillingness to cut services could make it impossible to balance a budget next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a>’s board directed staff to prepare two plans that cut $100 million from the 2026–27 budget to stay afloat. That demand came with broad parameters: no school closures or mergers, maintaining school resources and student-facing roles and reducing the district’s administrative arm — the “central office.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re a school district. And a school district’s majority of its funds are in schools,” Chief Business Officer Lisa Grant-Dawson said. “There’s not $100 million in the central office.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two budget scenarios staff plan to present to the school board on Wednesday would cut far less than their goal. The more scant version would total $21.8 million in savings and recommends cutting 53 roles across administrative offices, with the greatest reductions in communications and the Superintendent’s office, a department which trains and supports new employees, fiscal services and academics. The other would only cut six roles and save the district $16.8 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board President Jennifer Brouhard, who co-authored the resolution directing staff to propose the cuts, said it was an “initial direction,” but that she and other board members “understood from the start that further discussions with the Superintendent would be necessary to identify additional cuts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12041367\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12041367 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1316\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-800x526.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-1020x671.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-1536x1011.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-1920x1263.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District board president Jennifer Brouhard speaks during a meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She said the board also asked staff to consider other elements of the district’s spending, including a potential restructuring of its school “networks,” or groups of schools that are under the purview of a network superintendent, and plans to increase revenue through enrollment and identification of services that the district can deliver in-house instead of contracting out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At our next special meeting on Dec. 3, I am excited to see plans for the remaining components of the resolution,” Brouhard said via email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget crisis comes after years of warnings from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12027158/how-oakland-and-sf-ended-up-among-7-ca-school-districts-who-cant-pay-their-bills\">state watchdogs\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059238/alameda-county-to-oakland-schools-reduce-costs-or-lose-financial-independence-again\">county and district officials\u003c/a> that OUSD is outspending its revenue, setting it on the path toward bankruptcy. The district did declare bankruptcy in 2003 and was bailed out by a loan from the state that came with decades of intense oversight, but \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043062/as-ousd-gets-closer-to-controlling-its-finances-new-budget-challenges-loom\">made its final loan payment over the summer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Even so, the past few years have been rocky — OUSD has outspent its revenue by up to $4 million per month, forcing service cuts and spending down a strong reserve fund built up during the pandemic, when schools received hefty relief payments from the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some board members and the teachers’ union have long blamed OUSD’s central office for the overspending problem, calling it bloated and pointing to the high salaries of top officials. But Grant-Dawson said recent cuts have already relied heavily on shrinking the administration, making deeper reductions to non-student services difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the board accepts a proposed reduction in its number of cleaning staff, Grant-Dawson said the district will ask school sites to utilize fewer classrooms and buildings on their campuses. Likewise, laying off employees in the budget office means school sites will have less flexibility in how they spend their site-specific funding, since there won’t be a district staff member to help implement those changes in the larger budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to be able to do less,” Grant-Dawson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A slim, four-member board majority led by Brouhard passed the resolution calling for the reduction plans last month, after hours of circling debate over how to address OUSD’s dire budget situation, while maintaining student and school resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912882\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11912882\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Kids play outside at school.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/RS55654_027_KQED_GrassValleyElementarySchoolOakland_04282022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students play a game during recess at Grass Valley Elementary School in Oakland on April 28, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The same contingent, which is backed by the teachers’ union, has pushed through a number of controversial proposals since January, including amendments to last year’s budget reduction plan that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041279/ousd-cancels-controversial-after-school-cuts-but-deep-divisions-within-school-board-remain\">unintentionally cut after-school programs\u003c/a> and had to be reversed and a shocking deal to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037315/oakland-school-board-votes-remove-superintendent-sparking-worries-instability\">part with longtime Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell\u003c/a> before the end of her contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout the year, the board’s already tense relationship with district staff, and each other, has grown increasingly tenuous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the spring, Grant-Dawson said she warned the board that their budget-balancing amendments could have unintended consequences, like the after-school program funding snafu, before it passed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we did do that, it was like, ‘The staff is trying to keep us from [doing what we want],’” Grant-Dawson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029337\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029337\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Board takes public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Having to present the plan that made the cuts, then later reverse them, created more work for her team. So has developing budget-balancing plans year after year at the board’s direction, then watching as many go unimplemented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“OUSD’s history reveals an undeniable pattern: requesting plans, then disregarding them; rejecting staff recommendations; changing direction and directions, and, when difficult decisions are finally made, rescinding them shortly thereafter,” Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro said in a letter to OUSD last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She told KQED that balancing the budget under the current circumstances “is absolutely 100% possible, but it would require a really significant change of pattern and action.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our business team has been alerting the Board and the community about these oncoming financial challenges for several years,” Interim Superintendent Denise Saddler, who took over this summer while the district searches for a new permanent leader, wrote in a letter to families earlier this month. “We could see the need to take measures to mitigate the financial drop off on the horizon, and we have made clear the need to make hard choices long before now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056737\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12056737 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District parents, students and community leaders rally in support of improved schools, ahead of an OUSD board meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Saddler said it would be impossible to make the massive budget reduction — which equals about 20% of the district’s unrestricted funding — without impacting students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People we know and care about will lose their jobs. Programs our students love will be reduced or eliminated. Services our families depend on will change,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all of the staff reductions in either budget scenario would necessarily come through layoffs. The district plans to offer employees who are over the age of 55 and have served in OUSD for at least five years an early retirement buy-out in June, and the school board directed the superintendent to implement a hiring freeze last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board is supposed to vote on its budget cut plan next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grant-Dawson said prior to Wednesday’s meeting, she hadn’t discussed the partial proposals with board members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not in that place,” she said. “They haven’t reached out. They don’t reach out like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a>’s school board passed a resolution on Tuesday asking district staff to propose major budget reductions over the next two years as it faces \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055977/ousd-just-got-control-of-its-finances-back-from-the-state-its-already-in-major-trouble\">threats of new county oversight\u003c/a> just months after regaining local financial control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But whether the legislation can curb the district’s rapid overspending, or even lead to an implementation of funding changes, is another story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What is also lacking is what the Board is going to do to partner with us,” OUSD’s chief business officer, Lisa Grant-Dawson, told the board on Tuesday. “I see nowhere that the board will not accept a staff recommendation on reduction of positions, where the board will not reverse [our cuts] — because that is our reality too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday night’s resolution, which passed with a slim four-to-three majority, comes after Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro warned in a letter to OUSD last month that she would not grant the district full budget approval if it did not comply with certain cost-reducing changes by its final November deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among her conditions for approval were identifying a total dollar amount that OUSD needs to cut to re-balance its 2025-26 budget based on updated financial information and approving a resolution by Oct. 8 that outlines a timeline and plan to address that projected shortfall in 2025-26, and a future one expected in 2026-27.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042892\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042892\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Board listens to public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. Students, families, educators, and community members raised their concerns about a proposed merger of their schools. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The resolution, passed in the final hours before the deadline, directs staff to develop budgeting scenarios that would cut tens of millions of dollars from next year’s spending plan and propose potential mid-year program and service cuts that could reduce spending already allocated for this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Grant-Dawson cautioned that in order to make actual gains in getting OUSD back in the black, the board would now have to approve, and stick to, her team’s suggestions — a feat OUSD’s board hasn’t always been able to achieve in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we’re going to speak truth to power and come back here Nov. 8 with [suggestions], I really need the board to be able to consider those components,” she said. “None of this [budget cutting] we want to do, right? But truly, [my team is] wanting to do this work without it being upended when you’re asking for a recommendation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school district’s long track record of overspending — and reneging on spending cuts — dates back years.[aside postID=news_12055977 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-11_qed-1020x656.jpg']In 2003, it declared bankruptcy and was bailed out by a loan from the state. Over the next two decades, it was under the state’s eye as it paid off that debt and finally regained local control this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when it was under oversight, the district’s school board has repeatedly floated, then backed off, plans to close schools and impose personnel and service cuts, as it weathers declining enrollment and increasing operational costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, it approved a plan to close five schools, but reversed the plan the following year, before it took effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the board attempted to make major progress on its long-term budget balancing process dubbed the “three Rs” — redesigning how it operates schools, restructuring its funding and staffing models and re-envisioning how many schools it supports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after months of back and forth, the board took no action in December on a school merger plan — proposed as part of the re-envisioning component. It did authorize staff to implement 30 other cost-cutting solutions into its 2025–26 budget proposal, including centralizing contracts, reducing schools’ discretionary funding, potentially eliminating some positions and reducing the majority of overtime pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the spring, new board leadership passed legislation adding caps to some spending categories that have historically been seen as not student-focused, like consultant fees and external contracts. The “alternative budget solutions” were designed to shift necessary spending reductions away from school sites and classroom positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037460\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037460\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District parents, students and supporters attend a board meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These changes made the spending plan for 2025-2026 even tighter, though, after causing controversial after-school program cuts that\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041279/ousd-cancels-controversial-after-school-cuts-but-deep-divisions-within-school-board-remain\"> were ultimately reversed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the district adopted its 2025-26 budget, it’s also had to increase its special education budget and update salary and staffing costs based on bargaining agreements with its unions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The series of moves means OUSD began the fiscal year spending about $4 million more than it makes each month, Grant-Dawson said. She said reasonably, OUSD needs to cut $20 million from this year’s spending plan, and $80 million from next year’s, to prevent draining its mandatory reserve fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resolution approved Wednesday, directing Grant-Dawson and her staff to identify cuts for this year and next, asks that their proposed budget scenarios focus on cuts to administrative and centralized services and positions that “have the least impact on students in schools.” It also prohibits proposing school closures and mergers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resolution doesn’t make any concrete spending changes, and any that Grant-Dawson’s staff does suggest at next month’s budget study session would have to be approved by the board before taking effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029337\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029337\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Board takes public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Grant-Dawson said she would also need major clarification, and likely rewriting, of parts of the legislation to avoid proposing unintended, and potentially catastrophic, changes — like the cuts to after-school programs this spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county will decide by its final budget approval deadline on Nov. 8 if Tuesday’s resolution — and any concrete plan for cutting costs that comes from it — satisfies its standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it doesn’t, the county could be forced to retake control of OUSD’s finances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district must take further actions, listed below, to formally obtain approval of the [Local Control and Accountability Plan] and budget,” Castro’s letter last month read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is imperative that the board fully exercise its fiduciary responsibility and governance authority,” it continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a>’s school board passed a resolution on Tuesday asking district staff to propose major budget reductions over the next two years as it faces \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055977/ousd-just-got-control-of-its-finances-back-from-the-state-its-already-in-major-trouble\">threats of new county oversight\u003c/a> just months after regaining local financial control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But whether the legislation can curb the district’s rapid overspending, or even lead to an implementation of funding changes, is another story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What is also lacking is what the Board is going to do to partner with us,” OUSD’s chief business officer, Lisa Grant-Dawson, told the board on Tuesday. “I see nowhere that the board will not accept a staff recommendation on reduction of positions, where the board will not reverse [our cuts] — because that is our reality too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday night’s resolution, which passed with a slim four-to-three majority, comes after Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro warned in a letter to OUSD last month that she would not grant the district full budget approval if it did not comply with certain cost-reducing changes by its final November deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among her conditions for approval were identifying a total dollar amount that OUSD needs to cut to re-balance its 2025-26 budget based on updated financial information and approving a resolution by Oct. 8 that outlines a timeline and plan to address that projected shortfall in 2025-26, and a future one expected in 2026-27.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042892\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042892\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Board listens to public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. Students, families, educators, and community members raised their concerns about a proposed merger of their schools. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The resolution, passed in the final hours before the deadline, directs staff to develop budgeting scenarios that would cut tens of millions of dollars from next year’s spending plan and propose potential mid-year program and service cuts that could reduce spending already allocated for this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Grant-Dawson cautioned that in order to make actual gains in getting OUSD back in the black, the board would now have to approve, and stick to, her team’s suggestions — a feat OUSD’s board hasn’t always been able to achieve in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we’re going to speak truth to power and come back here Nov. 8 with [suggestions], I really need the board to be able to consider those components,” she said. “None of this [budget cutting] we want to do, right? But truly, [my team is] wanting to do this work without it being upended when you’re asking for a recommendation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school district’s long track record of overspending — and reneging on spending cuts — dates back years.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In 2003, it declared bankruptcy and was bailed out by a loan from the state. Over the next two decades, it was under the state’s eye as it paid off that debt and finally regained local control this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when it was under oversight, the district’s school board has repeatedly floated, then backed off, plans to close schools and impose personnel and service cuts, as it weathers declining enrollment and increasing operational costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, it approved a plan to close five schools, but reversed the plan the following year, before it took effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the board attempted to make major progress on its long-term budget balancing process dubbed the “three Rs” — redesigning how it operates schools, restructuring its funding and staffing models and re-envisioning how many schools it supports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after months of back and forth, the board took no action in December on a school merger plan — proposed as part of the re-envisioning component. It did authorize staff to implement 30 other cost-cutting solutions into its 2025–26 budget proposal, including centralizing contracts, reducing schools’ discretionary funding, potentially eliminating some positions and reducing the majority of overtime pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the spring, new board leadership passed legislation adding caps to some spending categories that have historically been seen as not student-focused, like consultant fees and external contracts. The “alternative budget solutions” were designed to shift necessary spending reductions away from school sites and classroom positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037460\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037460\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District parents, students and supporters attend a board meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These changes made the spending plan for 2025-2026 even tighter, though, after causing controversial after-school program cuts that\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041279/ousd-cancels-controversial-after-school-cuts-but-deep-divisions-within-school-board-remain\"> were ultimately reversed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the district adopted its 2025-26 budget, it’s also had to increase its special education budget and update salary and staffing costs based on bargaining agreements with its unions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The series of moves means OUSD began the fiscal year spending about $4 million more than it makes each month, Grant-Dawson said. She said reasonably, OUSD needs to cut $20 million from this year’s spending plan, and $80 million from next year’s, to prevent draining its mandatory reserve fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resolution approved Wednesday, directing Grant-Dawson and her staff to identify cuts for this year and next, asks that their proposed budget scenarios focus on cuts to administrative and centralized services and positions that “have the least impact on students in schools.” It also prohibits proposing school closures and mergers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resolution doesn’t make any concrete spending changes, and any that Grant-Dawson’s staff does suggest at next month’s budget study session would have to be approved by the board before taking effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029337\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029337\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-022_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Board takes public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Grant-Dawson said she would also need major clarification, and likely rewriting, of parts of the legislation to avoid proposing unintended, and potentially catastrophic, changes — like the cuts to after-school programs this spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county will decide by its final budget approval deadline on Nov. 8 if Tuesday’s resolution — and any concrete plan for cutting costs that comes from it — satisfies its standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it doesn’t, the county could be forced to retake control of OUSD’s finances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district must take further actions, listed below, to formally obtain approval of the [Local Control and Accountability Plan] and budget,” Castro’s letter last month read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is imperative that the board fully exercise its fiduciary responsibility and governance authority,” it continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 12:30 p.m., Saturday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> only just regained local control this summer after a state bailout two decades ago, and already top officials are warning that it is spending past its means and quickly falling back into perilous financial territory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter to the Oakland school board last week, Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Alysse Castro warned that it will need to propose major budget revisions in the next month to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043062/as-ousd-gets-closer-to-controlling-its-finances-new-budget-challenges-loom\">avoid running out of funds\u003c/a> during this academic year, risking insolvency for the second time in recent memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oakland Unified School District enters Fiscal Year 2025–26 under full local control for the first time in a generation; however, the same fiscal and decision-making issues that have plagued the district for many years remain,” Castro wrote in her annual report of the district’s finances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter detailed a series of moves by the school board over the last year that have pushed the district toward disarray: first failing to take action on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">a plan to merge schools\u003c/a> in December to save about $3 million annually, and later continuing to renege on its own service and personnel cuts meant to close a $95 million budget deficit for the 2025–26 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, district budget chief Lisa Grant-Dawson wrote in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/communications-public-affairs/newsroom/news/~board/ousd-news/post/the-closing-of-the-books-for-the-2024-25-budget-continues-the-sobering-financial-news-for-the-district\">separate letter to families\u003c/a> that OUSD’s expenses have been outpacing revenue by about $4 million a month for nearly a year. The district’s budget reserve has shrunk by 53% in the last year, dwindling from $118 million to just $55.8 million, according to newly updated financial information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056737\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12056737\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District parents, students and community leaders rally in support of improved schools, ahead of an OUSD board meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Grant-Dawson said that reserve will shrink further this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spending plan passed in June already violated OUSD’s policy to maintain reserves of at least 3% of its budget for unexpected expenses. Based on the updated numbers, Grant-Dawson said the district will not only spend the small $374,000 cushion it did preserve but also dip below the state’s lower 2% reserve requirement, risking financial insolvency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like districts across the state, Oakland is struggling with declining enrollment, rising costs for services and employees, and federal and state funding cuts. That has made it difficult for OUSD to regain its financial footing after taking a $100 million loan from the state in 2003 in exchange for control over its operations, but it was on the right track, said school board member Mike Hutchinson, who chairs the district’s finance committee.[aside postID=news_12042255 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg']Now, he believes new board leadership is driving the district back into financial jeopardy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just been a series of actions and inactions that have led us to this point,” Hutchinson said. “We were always trying to thread the needle, and with this series of actions, it’s taken all of that leeway away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson, who was among the board members opposed to merging schools in December, pointed to a series of 4–3 votes over the last nine months. He places much of the blame for the board’s shortcomings on President Jennifer Brouhard and Vice President Valarie Bachelor, who were elected board leaders in a 4–3 vote in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, that same voting bloc — which is backed by the teachers union, has been aligned on several votes that have gone against district staff and affected OUSD’s financial situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, they made changes to the district’s budget balancing plan that ended up \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12040189/ousd-after-school-programs-could-be-cut-by-at-least-50\">causing upheaval to after-school programs\u003c/a> and could have cut about a third of the district’s spending on third-party services and contracts. Those union-backed “alternative budget balancing solutions,” which Brouhard said aimed to restore classroom personnel cuts, were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041279/ousd-cancels-controversial-after-school-cuts-but-deep-divisions-within-school-board-remain\">ultimately rescinded\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same four board members in April approved a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037315/oakland-school-board-votes-remove-superintendent-sparking-worries-instability\">separation agreement with Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell\u003c/a>, who was contracted to remain with OUSD until 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038081\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038081\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District teachers, parents and students rally outside of Glenview Elementary in Oakland on May 11, 2023, during a teacher strike in the district. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The longtime leader had been credited with much of the district’s financial recovery since taking over in 2017, but often sparred with the teachers union. Her early departure led to questions about whether the board \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12035005/oakland-school-board-may-replace-superintendent-despite-contract-extension\">pushed her out.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May, the union-backed board majority approved a $2.5 million agreement to restore teaching roles that were initially proposed to be cut this fall, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038078/oakland-teachers-set-strike-this-week-union-tells-school-district\">narrowly avoiding a labor strike\u003c/a>. At the time, it did not make any additional cuts to offset the expense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brouhard, Bachelor and board members Rachel Latta and VanCedric Williams, who approved those moves, did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate letter last week, conditionally approving OUSD’s 2025–26 budget, Castro gave the board a deadline of Oct. 8 to direct district staff on how to make mid-year budget reductions to rebalance spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056738\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12056738\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified students and parents make signs to support teachers at a ‘solidarity school’ in Diamond Park, Oakland, on May 11, 2023, as the Oakland Unified School District teacher strike continues. Parents, teachers, and middle and high school students volunteer to watch students, providing lunch and activities. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson believes the necessary cuts will be at least $10 million for this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They would have to further cut currently planned expenses, though, to fulfill new wage demands from the Oakland Education Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teachers union, whose contract expired in June, sent the district a compensation proposal in August requesting a 9% retroactive raise from July, and an additional 5% increase next year, among other costly demands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Until our district prioritizes stability, every year our schools will lose incredible educators to other districts with better pay and benefits,” said OEA president Kampala Taiz-Rancifer. “We know that districts that invest in their classroom staff see successful and supported students as a result, and we need to see OUSD do the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson said the district hasn’t set aside any money for increased wages and will have to make dollar-for-dollar cuts to raise them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If our teachers union wants a $20 million package for this year, we will have to make $20 million in spending cuts for this year in order to do that,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson said board leadership has yet to schedule a meeting to discuss the necessary cuts. If they fail to act, he said, it might be best for the county to step back in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sept. 20: A previous version of this story misattributed a statement to Jessica Beard, communications organizer for the California Teachers Association. It has been corrected to attribute the statement to Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, president of the Oakland Education Association, a workforce services specialist. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The Oakland Unified School District is spending beyond its means and will need to propose major budget revisions in the next month to avoid running out of funds during this school year.\r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 12:30 p.m., Saturday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> only just regained local control this summer after a state bailout two decades ago, and already top officials are warning that it is spending past its means and quickly falling back into perilous financial territory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter to the Oakland school board last week, Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Alysse Castro warned that it will need to propose major budget revisions in the next month to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043062/as-ousd-gets-closer-to-controlling-its-finances-new-budget-challenges-loom\">avoid running out of funds\u003c/a> during this academic year, risking insolvency for the second time in recent memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oakland Unified School District enters Fiscal Year 2025–26 under full local control for the first time in a generation; however, the same fiscal and decision-making issues that have plagued the district for many years remain,” Castro wrote in her annual report of the district’s finances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter detailed a series of moves by the school board over the last year that have pushed the district toward disarray: first failing to take action on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">a plan to merge schools\u003c/a> in December to save about $3 million annually, and later continuing to renege on its own service and personnel cuts meant to close a $95 million budget deficit for the 2025–26 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, district budget chief Lisa Grant-Dawson wrote in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/communications-public-affairs/newsroom/news/~board/ousd-news/post/the-closing-of-the-books-for-the-2024-25-budget-continues-the-sobering-financial-news-for-the-district\">separate letter to families\u003c/a> that OUSD’s expenses have been outpacing revenue by about $4 million a month for nearly a year. The district’s budget reserve has shrunk by 53% in the last year, dwindling from $118 million to just $55.8 million, according to newly updated financial information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056737\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12056737\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-2_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District parents, students and community leaders rally in support of improved schools, ahead of an OUSD board meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Grant-Dawson said that reserve will shrink further this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spending plan passed in June already violated OUSD’s policy to maintain reserves of at least 3% of its budget for unexpected expenses. Based on the updated numbers, Grant-Dawson said the district will not only spend the small $374,000 cushion it did preserve but also dip below the state’s lower 2% reserve requirement, risking financial insolvency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like districts across the state, Oakland is struggling with declining enrollment, rising costs for services and employees, and federal and state funding cuts. That has made it difficult for OUSD to regain its financial footing after taking a $100 million loan from the state in 2003 in exchange for control over its operations, but it was on the right track, said school board member Mike Hutchinson, who chairs the district’s finance committee.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Now, he believes new board leadership is driving the district back into financial jeopardy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just been a series of actions and inactions that have led us to this point,” Hutchinson said. “We were always trying to thread the needle, and with this series of actions, it’s taken all of that leeway away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson, who was among the board members opposed to merging schools in December, pointed to a series of 4–3 votes over the last nine months. He places much of the blame for the board’s shortcomings on President Jennifer Brouhard and Vice President Valarie Bachelor, who were elected board leaders in a 4–3 vote in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, that same voting bloc — which is backed by the teachers union, has been aligned on several votes that have gone against district staff and affected OUSD’s financial situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, they made changes to the district’s budget balancing plan that ended up \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12040189/ousd-after-school-programs-could-be-cut-by-at-least-50\">causing upheaval to after-school programs\u003c/a> and could have cut about a third of the district’s spending on third-party services and contracts. Those union-backed “alternative budget balancing solutions,” which Brouhard said aimed to restore classroom personnel cuts, were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041279/ousd-cancels-controversial-after-school-cuts-but-deep-divisions-within-school-board-remain\">ultimately rescinded\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same four board members in April approved a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037315/oakland-school-board-votes-remove-superintendent-sparking-worries-instability\">separation agreement with Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell\u003c/a>, who was contracted to remain with OUSD until 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038081\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038081\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/021_KQED_OUSDTeacherStrike_05112023_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District teachers, parents and students rally outside of Glenview Elementary in Oakland on May 11, 2023, during a teacher strike in the district. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The longtime leader had been credited with much of the district’s financial recovery since taking over in 2017, but often sparred with the teachers union. Her early departure led to questions about whether the board \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12035005/oakland-school-board-may-replace-superintendent-despite-contract-extension\">pushed her out.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May, the union-backed board majority approved a $2.5 million agreement to restore teaching roles that were initially proposed to be cut this fall, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038078/oakland-teachers-set-strike-this-week-union-tells-school-district\">narrowly avoiding a labor strike\u003c/a>. At the time, it did not make any additional cuts to offset the expense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brouhard, Bachelor and board members Rachel Latta and VanCedric Williams, who approved those moves, did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate letter last week, conditionally approving OUSD’s 2025–26 budget, Castro gave the board a deadline of Oct. 8 to direct district staff on how to make mid-year budget reductions to rebalance spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056738\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12056738\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified students and parents make signs to support teachers at a ‘solidarity school’ in Diamond Park, Oakland, on May 11, 2023, as the Oakland Unified School District teacher strike continues. Parents, teachers, and middle and high school students volunteer to watch students, providing lunch and activities. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson believes the necessary cuts will be at least $10 million for this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They would have to further cut currently planned expenses, though, to fulfill new wage demands from the Oakland Education Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teachers union, whose contract expired in June, sent the district a compensation proposal in August requesting a 9% retroactive raise from July, and an additional 5% increase next year, among other costly demands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Until our district prioritizes stability, every year our schools will lose incredible educators to other districts with better pay and benefits,” said OEA president Kampala Taiz-Rancifer. “We know that districts that invest in their classroom staff see successful and supported students as a result, and we need to see OUSD do the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson said the district hasn’t set aside any money for increased wages and will have to make dollar-for-dollar cuts to raise them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If our teachers union wants a $20 million package for this year, we will have to make $20 million in spending cuts for this year in order to do that,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson said board leadership has yet to schedule a meeting to discuss the necessary cuts. If they fail to act, he said, it might be best for the county to step back in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sept. 20: A previous version of this story misattributed a statement to Jessica Beard, communications organizer for the California Teachers Association. It has been corrected to attribute the statement to Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, president of the Oakland Education Association, a workforce services specialist. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"order": 9
},
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
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},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
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"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5Nzk2MzI2MTEx",
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