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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12057191/whistleblower-suits-allege-unsafe-unstable-conditions-at-oaklands-berkley-maynard-academy\">Berkley Maynard Academy\u003c/a>, a charter school in North Oakland serving predominantly Black students, is shutting down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students’ final class on Tuesday marks a dramatic downfall for a school that teachers, until recently, considered a “crown jewel” of Aspire charter schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since opening more than two decades ago, generations of children have attended the school, which serves students from transitional kindergarten through eighth grade, with parents commuting from cities like Antioch and Vallejo to drop off their kids on the way to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 60% of Berkley Maynard students are Black, the largest percentage of any Bay Area Aspire school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In just two years, Aspire leadership made a series of staffing decisions that fractured that entrenched school community, leading to high teacher turnover and unsafe conditions on campus, according to interviews with nearly two dozen former school staff members, current employees and family members of students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers said they feared retaliation for raising concerns about insufficient student services. Many quit, and substitutes filled classrooms, former staff said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then families started leaving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12057571\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12057571\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250923-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-02-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250923-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-02-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250923-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-02-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250923-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-02-KQED-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aspire Berkley Maynard Academy in Oakland on Sept. 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They’re wondering why, because they’re not listening to the community,” said C’erah King-Polk, a Berkley Maynard alum whose siblings attend the school. She’s never gone a year without a sibling at the school. “They’re literally playing with a child’s future. Now you displaced so many kids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only an estimated 225 students, or about half of those who enrolled this school year, planned to return, said Jenna Ogier-Marangella, acting Aspire Bay Area executive director, during a recent board of directors meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ogier-Marangella spent the past few months at Berkley Maynard’s campus, and said that staff and families told her they were “incredibly displeased with the quality of programming that we have been delivering the past two years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After announcing the closure in early May, school officials hosted an enrollment fair, but few participated, Ogier-Marangella said, suggesting those families had already found other schools and the number planning to return was even lower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was no “fiscally responsible” way forward, Ogier-Marangella said. She did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An Aspire spokesperson said in a written statement that, like schools across California, its enrollment and financial challenges are driven by changing student demographics and broader shifts in K-12 education.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why staff and families left the school\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Oakland charter schools are \u003ca href=\"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1773093367/ousdorg/f4cdl90laoyc2nsxr2od/FastFacts2025-26_final.pdf\">seeing enrollment drops\u003c/a>, but families, teachers and staff who spoke with KQED blame Berkley Maynard’s exodus on choices by school leadership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How can a school that was thriving all of a sudden get to where it is now in two years?” said Melinee Stewart, a former teacher at Berkley Maynard. “That’s not a school issue, that’s not a parent issue, that’s an administrative issue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stewart and others interviewed by KQED said 2024 marked the start of Berkley Maynard’s unraveling. That fall, Javier Cabra Walteros, then-executive director of Aspire’s nine Bay Area schools, served as the school’s interim principal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12057550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1998px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12057550\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250924-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-03_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1998\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250924-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-03_qed.jpg 1998w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250924-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-03_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250924-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-03_qed-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1998px) 100vw, 1998px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Iris Velasco at her home in Oakland on Sept. 24, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Months into the school year, Assistant Principal Iris Velasco was abruptly fired. Teachers wore black the next day in protest. Velasco later filed a whistleblower lawsuit, alleging she was retaliated against for raising the alarm that the school was failing to provide legally mandated services for students with disabilities. A teacher, Maryann Doudna, filed a similar complaint, alleging she had no choice but to leave when administrators ignored her pleas for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a previous statement, an Aspire spokesperson said the organization “vehemently denies the egregious allegations made by these former employees.” Aspire hired a permanent principal. By the fall of 2025, Aspire had brought on yet another principal, who previously worked at an Aspire school that is closing as part of a merger with another campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were like, ‘What?’ We didn’t even interview this person. Where did this person come from?’” said Deana Lundy, a parent of a fifth grader. Lundy said that experience reflected a pattern of school officials not communicating with families or making decisions based on what they needed.[aside postID=news_12086091 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CA-Teacher-Discipline-Holly.jpg']“The community is just as important as teachers, as test scores. If you don’t have families, you don’t have a school,” Lundy said. “There were teachers who were well-qualified to be principals, who were down to support the community. But they let those teachers go.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lundy said this school year was a “whole entire mess” where some classes lacked permanent teachers, and students faced no repercussions for fighting or bullying. Students stopped learning, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the closure was announced, Lundy had already decided her son would leave Berkley Maynard. Having attended school on the same campus as a child, she chose Berkley Maynard for her son when he started kindergarten during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one will get to experience the BMA that I experienced,” Lundy said. “The community of students and families will be forever lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, an Aspire spokesperson said the organization’s established processes for hiring school leadership include participation from regional leaders, staff, students and families. The spokesperson said Aspire communicated the decision to close as soon as leadership “became aware of the enrollment data and financial realities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For nearly three decades, we have partnered with families to provide high-quality public school options, and we will continue making thoughtful, responsible decisions that put scholars first,” the spokesperson wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers and parents had little time to prepare for the news. Aspire informed teachers of plans to close on May 1, months after \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/enroll\">open enrollment for students had ended.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m still angry,” said Monica Franco, the Berkley Maynard business manager. “If you have to close, you have to close. Got it. I understand. However, you let people know this is happening so people can figure out what they’re going to do with their lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12086449\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12086449\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408498187.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1391\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408498187.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408498187-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408498187-1536x1079.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chalk art decorates pavement outside of an old bus operating as a preschool at the Aspire Monarch Academy school in Oakland, California, on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. \u003ccite>(Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Franco helped start the school, and said when Berkley Maynard opened, founding staff went to churches, knocked on doors and stopped by daycares to spread the word. They asked the families of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kut.org/life-arts/2025-02-18/the-life-and-legacy-of-robert-c-maynard\">Robert C. Maynard\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-31-me-19319-story.html\">Thomas L. Berkley\u003c/a>, two Black newspaper publishers in Oakland, for permission to name the school after them both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Franco said she never thought of leaving, even when conditions got tough. The school is her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a saying that rats are the first to get out of a boat when it’s sinking,” Franco said. “I wanted to make sure my kids were gonna be okay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said school officials asked administrators to stay on longer, but she plans to leave on her own terms — when the students and teachers do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are my family. They are my people,” Franco said. “I’m leaving with them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>As Berkley Maynard closes, Aspire turns to its surviving schools\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Berkley Maynard is not the only Aspire school in trouble. Last year, the Oakland Unified school board voted against renewing the charter for Golden State College Preparatory Academy. An Aspire spokesperson said the organization is currently appealing that decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an effort to address a $1.1 million deficit, nine positions with Aspire’s Bay Area regional office were eliminated, according to a May email sent by Ogier-Marangella to staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037997\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037997\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" 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>An Aspire spokesperson said the organization also created five new roles and encouraged impacted employees to apply based on their qualifications, adding that the staffing changes were made to align resources with organizational needs while continuing to support students, schools and staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The eliminated positions include those in student services, academics, external affairs and hiring, said Aspire employees who spoke to KQED on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The employees said that five out of nine people being laid off are Black and also lead the region’s pro-Black and anti-racist school programming initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All nine people are people that are vocal and speak up for families and for students,” one employee said. “A growing number of us would like for leaders to either figure out how to better serve students, families and teachers — or go.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Berkley Maynard educators are preparing to say goodbye to their students. Families and alums are organizing a block party this evening to celebrate the school’s legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One longtime Berkley Maynard teacher said the end of the school year is always hard, but this year the emotion is “turned up to a thousand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039588\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039588\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student walks down a hallway at Fremont High School in Oakland on Oct. 10, 2023. \u003ccite>(Laure Andrillon for Cal Matters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As her students will disperse to schools across the Bay Area, she won’t get to see them grow up and reach their potential in the same way, but she said her students will thrive anywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students told her they’re sad they won’t get the chance to stop by her classroom and wave, as the older kids do. Some asked why the school was closing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“‘It’s not any kids’ fault,’” the teacher said she explained to her students. “‘Grown-ups didn’t do a good job, and we had to close the school.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Teachers, parents and staff say leadership turnover, staffing decisions and declining enrollment fueled the collapse of the North Oakland charter school.",
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"title": "Inside the Rapid Decline of Berkley Maynard Academy in North Oakland | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12057191/whistleblower-suits-allege-unsafe-unstable-conditions-at-oaklands-berkley-maynard-academy\">Berkley Maynard Academy\u003c/a>, a charter school in North Oakland serving predominantly Black students, is shutting down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students’ final class on Tuesday marks a dramatic downfall for a school that teachers, until recently, considered a “crown jewel” of Aspire charter schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since opening more than two decades ago, generations of children have attended the school, which serves students from transitional kindergarten through eighth grade, with parents commuting from cities like Antioch and Vallejo to drop off their kids on the way to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 60% of Berkley Maynard students are Black, the largest percentage of any Bay Area Aspire school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In just two years, Aspire leadership made a series of staffing decisions that fractured that entrenched school community, leading to high teacher turnover and unsafe conditions on campus, according to interviews with nearly two dozen former school staff members, current employees and family members of students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers said they feared retaliation for raising concerns about insufficient student services. Many quit, and substitutes filled classrooms, former staff said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then families started leaving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12057571\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12057571\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250923-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-02-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250923-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-02-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250923-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-02-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250923-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-02-KQED-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aspire Berkley Maynard Academy in Oakland on Sept. 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They’re wondering why, because they’re not listening to the community,” said C’erah King-Polk, a Berkley Maynard alum whose siblings attend the school. She’s never gone a year without a sibling at the school. “They’re literally playing with a child’s future. Now you displaced so many kids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only an estimated 225 students, or about half of those who enrolled this school year, planned to return, said Jenna Ogier-Marangella, acting Aspire Bay Area executive director, during a recent board of directors meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ogier-Marangella spent the past few months at Berkley Maynard’s campus, and said that staff and families told her they were “incredibly displeased with the quality of programming that we have been delivering the past two years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After announcing the closure in early May, school officials hosted an enrollment fair, but few participated, Ogier-Marangella said, suggesting those families had already found other schools and the number planning to return was even lower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was no “fiscally responsible” way forward, Ogier-Marangella said. She did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An Aspire spokesperson said in a written statement that, like schools across California, its enrollment and financial challenges are driven by changing student demographics and broader shifts in K-12 education.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why staff and families left the school\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Oakland charter schools are \u003ca href=\"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1773093367/ousdorg/f4cdl90laoyc2nsxr2od/FastFacts2025-26_final.pdf\">seeing enrollment drops\u003c/a>, but families, teachers and staff who spoke with KQED blame Berkley Maynard’s exodus on choices by school leadership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How can a school that was thriving all of a sudden get to where it is now in two years?” said Melinee Stewart, a former teacher at Berkley Maynard. “That’s not a school issue, that’s not a parent issue, that’s an administrative issue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stewart and others interviewed by KQED said 2024 marked the start of Berkley Maynard’s unraveling. That fall, Javier Cabra Walteros, then-executive director of Aspire’s nine Bay Area schools, served as the school’s interim principal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12057550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1998px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12057550\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250924-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-03_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1998\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250924-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-03_qed.jpg 1998w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250924-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-03_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250924-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-03_qed-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1998px) 100vw, 1998px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Iris Velasco at her home in Oakland on Sept. 24, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Months into the school year, Assistant Principal Iris Velasco was abruptly fired. Teachers wore black the next day in protest. Velasco later filed a whistleblower lawsuit, alleging she was retaliated against for raising the alarm that the school was failing to provide legally mandated services for students with disabilities. A teacher, Maryann Doudna, filed a similar complaint, alleging she had no choice but to leave when administrators ignored her pleas for help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a previous statement, an Aspire spokesperson said the organization “vehemently denies the egregious allegations made by these former employees.” Aspire hired a permanent principal. By the fall of 2025, Aspire had brought on yet another principal, who previously worked at an Aspire school that is closing as part of a merger with another campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were like, ‘What?’ We didn’t even interview this person. Where did this person come from?’” said Deana Lundy, a parent of a fifth grader. Lundy said that experience reflected a pattern of school officials not communicating with families or making decisions based on what they needed.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The community is just as important as teachers, as test scores. If you don’t have families, you don’t have a school,” Lundy said. “There were teachers who were well-qualified to be principals, who were down to support the community. But they let those teachers go.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lundy said this school year was a “whole entire mess” where some classes lacked permanent teachers, and students faced no repercussions for fighting or bullying. Students stopped learning, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the closure was announced, Lundy had already decided her son would leave Berkley Maynard. Having attended school on the same campus as a child, she chose Berkley Maynard for her son when he started kindergarten during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one will get to experience the BMA that I experienced,” Lundy said. “The community of students and families will be forever lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, an Aspire spokesperson said the organization’s established processes for hiring school leadership include participation from regional leaders, staff, students and families. The spokesperson said Aspire communicated the decision to close as soon as leadership “became aware of the enrollment data and financial realities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For nearly three decades, we have partnered with families to provide high-quality public school options, and we will continue making thoughtful, responsible decisions that put scholars first,” the spokesperson wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers and parents had little time to prepare for the news. Aspire informed teachers of plans to close on May 1, months after \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/enroll\">open enrollment for students had ended.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m still angry,” said Monica Franco, the Berkley Maynard business manager. “If you have to close, you have to close. Got it. I understand. However, you let people know this is happening so people can figure out what they’re going to do with their lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12086449\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12086449\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408498187.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1391\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408498187.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408498187-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408498187-1536x1079.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chalk art decorates pavement outside of an old bus operating as a preschool at the Aspire Monarch Academy school in Oakland, California, on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. \u003ccite>(Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Franco helped start the school, and said when Berkley Maynard opened, founding staff went to churches, knocked on doors and stopped by daycares to spread the word. They asked the families of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kut.org/life-arts/2025-02-18/the-life-and-legacy-of-robert-c-maynard\">Robert C. Maynard\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-31-me-19319-story.html\">Thomas L. Berkley\u003c/a>, two Black newspaper publishers in Oakland, for permission to name the school after them both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Franco said she never thought of leaving, even when conditions got tough. The school is her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a saying that rats are the first to get out of a boat when it’s sinking,” Franco said. “I wanted to make sure my kids were gonna be okay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said school officials asked administrators to stay on longer, but she plans to leave on her own terms — when the students and teachers do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are my family. They are my people,” Franco said. “I’m leaving with them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>As Berkley Maynard closes, Aspire turns to its surviving schools\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Berkley Maynard is not the only Aspire school in trouble. Last year, the Oakland Unified school board voted against renewing the charter for Golden State College Preparatory Academy. An Aspire spokesperson said the organization is currently appealing that decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an effort to address a $1.1 million deficit, nine positions with Aspire’s Bay Area regional office were eliminated, according to a May email sent by Ogier-Marangella to staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037997\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037997\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" 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>An Aspire spokesperson said the organization also created five new roles and encouraged impacted employees to apply based on their qualifications, adding that the staffing changes were made to align resources with organizational needs while continuing to support students, schools and staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The eliminated positions include those in student services, academics, external affairs and hiring, said Aspire employees who spoke to KQED on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The employees said that five out of nine people being laid off are Black and also lead the region’s pro-Black and anti-racist school programming initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All nine people are people that are vocal and speak up for families and for students,” one employee said. “A growing number of us would like for leaders to either figure out how to better serve students, families and teachers — or go.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Berkley Maynard educators are preparing to say goodbye to their students. Families and alums are organizing a block party this evening to celebrate the school’s legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One longtime Berkley Maynard teacher said the end of the school year is always hard, but this year the emotion is “turned up to a thousand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039588\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039588\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/101023_AI-College-Toby-Reed_LA_CM_05-copy-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student walks down a hallway at Fremont High School in Oakland on Oct. 10, 2023. \u003ccite>(Laure Andrillon for Cal Matters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As her students will disperse to schools across the Bay Area, she won’t get to see them grow up and reach their potential in the same way, but she said her students will thrive anywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students told her they’re sad they won’t get the chance to stop by her classroom and wave, as the older kids do. Some asked why the school was closing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“‘It’s not any kids’ fault,’” the teacher said she explained to her students. “‘Grown-ups didn’t do a good job, and we had to close the school.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco’s superintendent of schools is putting a new timeline on two major changes for the district: an overhaul of its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11641238/how-the-san-francisco-school-lottery-works-and-how-it-doesnt-2\">embattled “lottery” enrollment system\u003c/a> and a long-delayed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010349/sf-school-closures-halted-for-now-but-districts-new-leader-will-be-tested\">plan to close some schools\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a message to families on Thursday night, Superintendent Maria Su said a new school assignment system should be in place by fall 2028. The district confirmed it plans to complete any school closures or mergers two years later, by fall 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District board put both initiatives at the top of Su’s list when it made her the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064366/sf-school-board-set-to-make-maria-su-the-permanent-superintendent-for-city-schools\">permanent superintendent\u003c/a> last fall, and neither is expected to be a light lift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fall 2024, a botched plan to close or merge more than a dozen schools led to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010008/sf-schools-crisis-is-spiraling-with-top-official-to-resign-heres-all-thats-happened\">resignation of former Superintendent Matt Wayne\u003c/a> — and Su’s appointment as his replacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While school closures are almost always contested and emotional for families, Wayne’s proposal was criticized for lacking transparency and engagement, and for disproportionately affecting \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008873/san-francisco-school-closures-will-hurt-chinese-immigrant-communities-city-leaders-say\">Chinese and immigrant students\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12004833\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12004833\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A school bus is parked outside of Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8, part of the San Francisco Unified School District, in San Francisco on March 2, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Replacing the SFUSD lottery will likely be far more popular. Families, the teacher’s union and the school board have long supported overhauling the system, known for long waitlists for the most desirable schools, instability and confusion for families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district started looking to scrap the system in 2018 and proposed a geographical zone-based replacement in 2020, but that was put on ice during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the fall, it seemed like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064746/sf-school-board-could-put-school-closures-back-on-the-table\">two initiatives\u003c/a> might move forward in tandem — and more quickly.[aside postID=news_12081587 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260428-VallejoChildCare-23-BL.jpg']The school board discussed a draft resolution that would have required Su to bring proposals for school closures and mergers, as well as a geography-based assignment system, by next fall’s enrollment fair, to go into effect by the 2027-2028 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Su said the district was “taking the time to get it right,” calling the steps part of a multiyear plan to build a “stronger future for our students” and make the district “stable and sustainable for the long term.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We also have to be honest about how quickly we can complete this work given our limited resources,” she wrote in the message to families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su’s plan would set a deadline for her to bring the school board a new student assignment proposal by the end of April 2027, to be implemented in the fall of 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not yet clear whether that will be some version of the geography-based zone plan the board previously discussed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some board members had raised concerns about whether that plan would be able to balance key goals like proximity, diversity and predictability in school assignments, and whether the zones could be drawn to ensure all have access to language immersion and special education programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053560\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053560\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mission Education Center, a bilingual elementary school in the San Francisco Unified School District, in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood, on Aug. 25, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meredith Dodson, who leads the SF Parent Coalition, said some version of the geography-based plan could “check off all the boxes” that the group has heard parents request, including “some predictability of identifying a school, getting assigned to a school within a certain proximity from where they live, and then having some aspect of choice and options within that proximity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she hopes the district’s outreach to the community over the next year will also extend to local families who decided not to send their children to SFUSD schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of this is probably the focus on: How do we drive enrollment back up? How do we make sure all families see SFUSD as the best option for their kids?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other major point that is likely to spark debate is equity, especially if the new enrollment system assigns students to schools based on neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, board member Alida Fisher pointed out that community advisory committees raised concerns that the geographical zone plan would disadvantage children in the southeast part of the city, where schools faced years of underinvestment, ailing facilities and less robust staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is likely to run into similar concerns as it takes up school closures the following year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2024, the district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008714/parents-sf-schools-named-for-closure-fight-keep-campuses-open\">looked to merge or close schools\u003c/a> based on a scoring system that looked at enrollment, academic performance, school culture, use of resources and equity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vanessa Marrero, who heads the nonprofit Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco, said that many of the factors overlap — schools with fewer resources might then have lower enrollment, since parents might choose to send their students to a school with more special programs or academic options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not yet clear how the district will approach deciding which schools it could merge or close, but Su said in her message that her “priority is to make informed decisions that center the needs of our students, and support our staff and families along the way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district confirmed it plans to complete that process during the 2028-29 academic year, which would be after Su’s current contract, through summer 2028. SFUSD would implement any closures and mergers in the fall of 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marrero said that in both the enrollment and school closure processes, the district will need to build trust with families to succeed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can outreach, and you can have ad hoc groups with the [school] board and all this stuff, but if you don’t have the trust, you don’t have the credibility,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052662\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12052662\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at Sanchez Elementary School in San Francisco arrive for their first day of the school year on Aug. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She suggested that the district could rely on community-based organizations it partners with across its school sites — many of which host its after-school programs and offer supplemental enrichment for students — to lead the engagement process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they give the power to the community leaders, then they will be able to do a whole lot more with parents and families than they’re doing now,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of false starts in SFUSD over the years, and that has been our biggest downfall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su is expected to introduce her plans for the assignment system and school closures at the Board of Education’s May 12 meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco’s superintendent of schools is putting a new timeline on two major changes for the district: an overhaul of its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11641238/how-the-san-francisco-school-lottery-works-and-how-it-doesnt-2\">embattled “lottery” enrollment system\u003c/a> and a long-delayed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010349/sf-school-closures-halted-for-now-but-districts-new-leader-will-be-tested\">plan to close some schools\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a message to families on Thursday night, Superintendent Maria Su said a new school assignment system should be in place by fall 2028. The district confirmed it plans to complete any school closures or mergers two years later, by fall 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District board put both initiatives at the top of Su’s list when it made her the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064366/sf-school-board-set-to-make-maria-su-the-permanent-superintendent-for-city-schools\">permanent superintendent\u003c/a> last fall, and neither is expected to be a light lift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fall 2024, a botched plan to close or merge more than a dozen schools led to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010008/sf-schools-crisis-is-spiraling-with-top-official-to-resign-heres-all-thats-happened\">resignation of former Superintendent Matt Wayne\u003c/a> — and Su’s appointment as his replacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While school closures are almost always contested and emotional for families, Wayne’s proposal was criticized for lacking transparency and engagement, and for disproportionately affecting \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008873/san-francisco-school-closures-will-hurt-chinese-immigrant-communities-city-leaders-say\">Chinese and immigrant students\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12004833\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12004833\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/09/014_KQED_SFUSDSchoolBus_03022023_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A school bus is parked outside of Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8, part of the San Francisco Unified School District, in San Francisco on March 2, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Replacing the SFUSD lottery will likely be far more popular. Families, the teacher’s union and the school board have long supported overhauling the system, known for long waitlists for the most desirable schools, instability and confusion for families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district started looking to scrap the system in 2018 and proposed a geographical zone-based replacement in 2020, but that was put on ice during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the fall, it seemed like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064746/sf-school-board-could-put-school-closures-back-on-the-table\">two initiatives\u003c/a> might move forward in tandem — and more quickly.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The school board discussed a draft resolution that would have required Su to bring proposals for school closures and mergers, as well as a geography-based assignment system, by next fall’s enrollment fair, to go into effect by the 2027-2028 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Su said the district was “taking the time to get it right,” calling the steps part of a multiyear plan to build a “stronger future for our students” and make the district “stable and sustainable for the long term.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We also have to be honest about how quickly we can complete this work given our limited resources,” she wrote in the message to families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su’s plan would set a deadline for her to bring the school board a new student assignment proposal by the end of April 2027, to be implemented in the fall of 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not yet clear whether that will be some version of the geography-based zone plan the board previously discussed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some board members had raised concerns about whether that plan would be able to balance key goals like proximity, diversity and predictability in school assignments, and whether the zones could be drawn to ensure all have access to language immersion and special education programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053560\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053560\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mission Education Center, a bilingual elementary school in the San Francisco Unified School District, in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood, on Aug. 25, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meredith Dodson, who leads the SF Parent Coalition, said some version of the geography-based plan could “check off all the boxes” that the group has heard parents request, including “some predictability of identifying a school, getting assigned to a school within a certain proximity from where they live, and then having some aspect of choice and options within that proximity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she hopes the district’s outreach to the community over the next year will also extend to local families who decided not to send their children to SFUSD schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of this is probably the focus on: How do we drive enrollment back up? How do we make sure all families see SFUSD as the best option for their kids?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other major point that is likely to spark debate is equity, especially if the new enrollment system assigns students to schools based on neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, board member Alida Fisher pointed out that community advisory committees raised concerns that the geographical zone plan would disadvantage children in the southeast part of the city, where schools faced years of underinvestment, ailing facilities and less robust staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is likely to run into similar concerns as it takes up school closures the following year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2024, the district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12008714/parents-sf-schools-named-for-closure-fight-keep-campuses-open\">looked to merge or close schools\u003c/a> based on a scoring system that looked at enrollment, academic performance, school culture, use of resources and equity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vanessa Marrero, who heads the nonprofit Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco, said that many of the factors overlap — schools with fewer resources might then have lower enrollment, since parents might choose to send their students to a school with more special programs or academic options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not yet clear how the district will approach deciding which schools it could merge or close, but Su said in her message that her “priority is to make informed decisions that center the needs of our students, and support our staff and families along the way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district confirmed it plans to complete that process during the 2028-29 academic year, which would be after Su’s current contract, through summer 2028. SFUSD would implement any closures and mergers in the fall of 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marrero said that in both the enrollment and school closure processes, the district will need to build trust with families to succeed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can outreach, and you can have ad hoc groups with the [school] board and all this stuff, but if you don’t have the trust, you don’t have the credibility,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052662\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12052662\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at Sanchez Elementary School in San Francisco arrive for their first day of the school year on Aug. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She suggested that the district could rely on community-based organizations it partners with across its school sites — many of which host its after-school programs and offer supplemental enrichment for students — to lead the engagement process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they give the power to the community leaders, then they will be able to do a whole lot more with parents and families than they’re doing now,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of false starts in SFUSD over the years, and that has been our biggest downfall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Su is expected to introduce her plans for the assignment system and school closures at the Board of Education’s May 12 meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>San José’s school district will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077640/alleging-discrimination-san-jose-parents-try-to-fight-school-closures\">shutter five elementary schools\u003c/a> and relocate another at the end of the year, despite pleas from parents and community members to halt the closure process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school board voted three to two late Thursday night in favor of the consolidation plan, which will close Empire Gardens, Lowell, Gardner, Canoas and Terrell elementary schools and relocate Hammer Montessori to the Gardner campus at the end of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School Board Vice President Brian Wheatley and trustee Nicole Gribstad voted against the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would not be honest to suggest that a recommendation like this comes without loss. There is grief and change, especially when it touches schools and neighborhoods that people love,” Superintendent Nancy Albarrán said. “But there is also hope … the goal of this work is to create stronger, more stable, more resource school communities for students now and into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJUSD staff said it would alert families who will be affected by the closures on Friday and finalize students’ new school assignments by May 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The closures come as districts across the Bay Area combat significant enrollment declines. San José Unified School District’s student population has shrunk 20% — a total of 6,000 students — since 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077727\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077727\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gardner Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>District staff said that SJUSD cannot continue to provide the necessary resources to fully staff and resource its current number of small campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As schools get smaller, it becomes harder to provide the level of programming, staffing stability, teacher collaboration, student supports and enrichment opportunities that our students deserve,” Albarrán said. “This is not about buildings alone. It is about whether we’re willing to act so that students have access to the kind of school experience we want every child in this district to have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, the district announced a plan to consider school closures, known as the “Schools of Tomorrow” initiative, and earlier this month, a committee made up of parents, staff and community volunteers recommended the plan that was ultimately approved by the board.[aside postID=news_12077640 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-08-BL.jpg']The committee identified the schools based on enrollment, targeting schools with fewer than 300 students, and took into account whether they had special education and bilingual programs. On its website, SJUSD said its “ideal” elementary school would have three classes per grade level, or four classes at schools with English immersion and bilingual programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But parents and educators packed into the district’s office for Thursday night’s meeting said the process has been rushed, and closures will cause stress and instability that harms their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Canoas Elementary teacher Dina Solnit told district leaders she’s worried about how her students will get to their new schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Transportation is a real barrier for our families,” she said during Thursday’s meeting. “Many of our families live far from the proposed schools. If a student misses a bus, their only options may be an unsafe walk or missing school altogether.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJUSD has said it will provide students who live more than a mile and a half from their new school with transportation, but has only guaranteed that for the next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another chief concern among parents is that the closures will disproportionately affect Latino and socio-economically disadvantaged students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077729\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077729\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empire Gardens Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than 70% of students at four of the schools recommended for closure identify as Hispanic or Latino, compared to about 55.2% of all SJUSD students, according to California Department of Education data. All five are Title I campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Parents are not just frustrated, they feel that their voices have not been heard, and that their concerns about the proposed school closures are not being taken seriously,” parent and teacher Tatiana Pineda said. “This lack of representation is especially pervasive among our Spanish-speaking parents, whose voices have been underrepresented and misrepresented in this process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, some filed a legal complaint with the school district, alleging that the closure plan violates state and federal anti-discrimination regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077728\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077728\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lowell Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During Thursday’s meeting, Silvia Scandar Mahan read a statement from her husband, San José Mayor Matt Mahan, calling on the district to consider the effect the plan would have on historically marginalized communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I respectfully urge the board not to move forward with this Schools of Tomorrow proposal and instead work directly with parents and educators who are most affected by these decisions,” she read. “Please also do not neglect communities of color and low-income communities who have historically been left off of decision-making tables. Parents should be partners in shaping their schools, not an afterthought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school district will have to investigate the parents’ discrimination claims and report their findings within 60 days. Depending on their conclusions, the parents could escalate the legal challenge to the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San José’s school district will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077640/alleging-discrimination-san-jose-parents-try-to-fight-school-closures\">shutter five elementary schools\u003c/a> and relocate another at the end of the year, despite pleas from parents and community members to halt the closure process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school board voted three to two late Thursday night in favor of the consolidation plan, which will close Empire Gardens, Lowell, Gardner, Canoas and Terrell elementary schools and relocate Hammer Montessori to the Gardner campus at the end of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School Board Vice President Brian Wheatley and trustee Nicole Gribstad voted against the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would not be honest to suggest that a recommendation like this comes without loss. There is grief and change, especially when it touches schools and neighborhoods that people love,” Superintendent Nancy Albarrán said. “But there is also hope … the goal of this work is to create stronger, more stable, more resource school communities for students now and into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJUSD staff said it would alert families who will be affected by the closures on Friday and finalize students’ new school assignments by May 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The closures come as districts across the Bay Area combat significant enrollment declines. San José Unified School District’s student population has shrunk 20% — a total of 6,000 students — since 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077727\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077727\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-13-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gardner Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>District staff said that SJUSD cannot continue to provide the necessary resources to fully staff and resource its current number of small campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As schools get smaller, it becomes harder to provide the level of programming, staffing stability, teacher collaboration, student supports and enrichment opportunities that our students deserve,” Albarrán said. “This is not about buildings alone. It is about whether we’re willing to act so that students have access to the kind of school experience we want every child in this district to have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In September, the district announced a plan to consider school closures, known as the “Schools of Tomorrow” initiative, and earlier this month, a committee made up of parents, staff and community volunteers recommended the plan that was ultimately approved by the board.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The committee identified the schools based on enrollment, targeting schools with fewer than 300 students, and took into account whether they had special education and bilingual programs. On its website, SJUSD said its “ideal” elementary school would have three classes per grade level, or four classes at schools with English immersion and bilingual programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But parents and educators packed into the district’s office for Thursday night’s meeting said the process has been rushed, and closures will cause stress and instability that harms their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Canoas Elementary teacher Dina Solnit told district leaders she’s worried about how her students will get to their new schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Transportation is a real barrier for our families,” she said during Thursday’s meeting. “Many of our families live far from the proposed schools. If a student misses a bus, their only options may be an unsafe walk or missing school altogether.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJUSD has said it will provide students who live more than a mile and a half from their new school with transportation, but has only guaranteed that for the next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another chief concern among parents is that the closures will disproportionately affect Latino and socio-economically disadvantaged students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077729\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077729\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empire Gardens Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than 70% of students at four of the schools recommended for closure identify as Hispanic or Latino, compared to about 55.2% of all SJUSD students, according to California Department of Education data. All five are Title I campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Parents are not just frustrated, they feel that their voices have not been heard, and that their concerns about the proposed school closures are not being taken seriously,” parent and teacher Tatiana Pineda said. “This lack of representation is especially pervasive among our Spanish-speaking parents, whose voices have been underrepresented and misrepresented in this process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, some filed a legal complaint with the school district, alleging that the closure plan violates state and federal anti-discrimination regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077728\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077728\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-16-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lowell Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During Thursday’s meeting, Silvia Scandar Mahan read a statement from her husband, San José Mayor Matt Mahan, calling on the district to consider the effect the plan would have on historically marginalized communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I respectfully urge the board not to move forward with this Schools of Tomorrow proposal and instead work directly with parents and educators who are most affected by these decisions,” she read. “Please also do not neglect communities of color and low-income communities who have historically been left off of decision-making tables. Parents should be partners in shaping their schools, not an afterthought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school district will have to investigate the parents’ discrimination claims and report their findings within 60 days. Depending on their conclusions, the parents could escalate the legal challenge to the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> parents are attempting to stop the city’s public school district from shuttering five campuses, alleging in a legal complaint that the plan would disproportionately impact low-income students and students of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Families filed the complaint with the San José Unified School District’s school board ahead of a vote on the closure plan on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This process has been discriminatory in its impact, misleading in how it has been presented to families, and procedurally deficient,” parent David Friedlander, who is leading the effort, said at a press conference on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, a committee of about 20 teachers, principals, parents and other community members recommended the board shutter Empire Gardens, Lowell, Gardner, Canoas and Terrell elementary schools and relocate Hammer Montessori to the Gardner campus at the end of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It said the reorganization plan, dubbed “Schools of Tomorrow,” aims to address a 20% decline in enrollment — a loss of 6,000 students — since 2017. In that time, the number of elementary schools with fewer than 350 students has doubled from six to 12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The committee’s recommendation said that shrinking enrollment could lead to reduced staffing, hurting programs like art and music at small schools, and increasing the need for combined grade classes at district schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077731\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077731\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lowell Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The Schools of Tomorrow process is a response to these challenges that will enable us to address declining enrollment in a positive, student-centered way,” SJUSD said on its website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But parents say the plan to close schools has been rushed, and should be a “last resort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want our community to have input. We want to improve the programs that are in the schools. We want to do this in a thoughtful way,” Friedlander, a Hammer Montessori parent, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also said the final list of campuses that will close discriminates against students of color and low-income families.[aside postID=news_12055955 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250909-BERRYESSAUNIONCLOSURES_03248_TV-KQED.jpg']According to Maeve Naughton, a parent at Terrell Elementary, all five of the campuses that could shutter are Title I schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Title I schools exist for one reason — to serve children living in poverty. Children who already carry burdens that most of us will never fully understand,” she said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friedlander said that up to nine school closures were initially considered, but “when they moved to fewer schools, it really shifted to targeting entirely Title I schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These schools are heavily Latino. They are also primarily socioeconomically disadvantaged students, foster youth, kids with special needs,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 72% and 91% of the students at four of the schools recommended for closure identify as Hispanic or Latino, compared to about 55.2% of all SJUSD students, according to California Department of Education data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those are way higher on that metric than the district average, and those are the schools targeted,” Friedlander continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The complaint alleges that this discrimination violates state and federal protections and that the closure process hasn’t included enough community input or an analysis examining the equity for affected students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJUSD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077729\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077729\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empire Gardens Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The district said it identified the schools to close based on enrollment, targeting schools with fewer than 300 students, and took into account whether they had special education and bilingual programs. On its website, SJUSD said its “ideal” elementary school would have three classes per grade level, or four classes at schools with English immersion and bilingual programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district will be required to conduct an investigation into the claims and report its findings within 60 days. Depending on its conclusion, the parents could appeal to the state department of education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friedlander said, in part, parents filed the complaint to get ahead of any decision the school board makes Thursday night. He said, depending on the outcome of the meeting, further legal challenges could follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not going away. We are organized, we are filing through proper legal channels, and we expect answers,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> parents are attempting to stop the city’s public school district from shuttering five campuses, alleging in a legal complaint that the plan would disproportionately impact low-income students and students of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Families filed the complaint with the San José Unified School District’s school board ahead of a vote on the closure plan on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This process has been discriminatory in its impact, misleading in how it has been presented to families, and procedurally deficient,” parent David Friedlander, who is leading the effort, said at a press conference on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, a committee of about 20 teachers, principals, parents and other community members recommended the board shutter Empire Gardens, Lowell, Gardner, Canoas and Terrell elementary schools and relocate Hammer Montessori to the Gardner campus at the end of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It said the reorganization plan, dubbed “Schools of Tomorrow,” aims to address a 20% decline in enrollment — a loss of 6,000 students — since 2017. In that time, the number of elementary schools with fewer than 350 students has doubled from six to 12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The committee’s recommendation said that shrinking enrollment could lead to reduced staffing, hurting programs like art and music at small schools, and increasing the need for combined grade classes at district schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077731\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077731\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-15-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lowell Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The Schools of Tomorrow process is a response to these challenges that will enable us to address declining enrollment in a positive, student-centered way,” SJUSD said on its website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But parents say the plan to close schools has been rushed, and should be a “last resort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want our community to have input. We want to improve the programs that are in the schools. We want to do this in a thoughtful way,” Friedlander, a Hammer Montessori parent, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also said the final list of campuses that will close discriminates against students of color and low-income families.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>According to Maeve Naughton, a parent at Terrell Elementary, all five of the campuses that could shutter are Title I schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Title I schools exist for one reason — to serve children living in poverty. Children who already carry burdens that most of us will never fully understand,” she said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friedlander said that up to nine school closures were initially considered, but “when they moved to fewer schools, it really shifted to targeting entirely Title I schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These schools are heavily Latino. They are also primarily socioeconomically disadvantaged students, foster youth, kids with special needs,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 72% and 91% of the students at four of the schools recommended for closure identify as Hispanic or Latino, compared to about 55.2% of all SJUSD students, according to California Department of Education data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those are way higher on that metric than the district average, and those are the schools targeted,” Friedlander continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The complaint alleges that this discrimination violates state and federal protections and that the closure process hasn’t included enough community input or an analysis examining the equity for affected students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SJUSD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077729\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077729\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-23-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empire Gardens Elementary School in San José on March 26, 2026. The school is among those proposed for closure as part of the San José Unified School District’s “Schools of Tomorrow” plan. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The district said it identified the schools to close based on enrollment, targeting schools with fewer than 300 students, and took into account whether they had special education and bilingual programs. On its website, SJUSD said its “ideal” elementary school would have three classes per grade level, or four classes at schools with English immersion and bilingual programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district will be required to conduct an investigation into the claims and report its findings within 60 days. Depending on its conclusion, the parents could appeal to the state department of education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friedlander said, in part, parents filed the complaint to get ahead of any decision the school board makes Thursday night. He said, depending on the outcome of the meeting, further legal challenges could follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not going away. We are organized, we are filing through proper legal channels, and we expect answers,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>’s school board could set a timeline on a plan to close schools, a year after a botched push to shutter up to 11 campuses left staff and district families reeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a meeting earlier this week, members discussed a new resolution that would require Superintendent Maria Su to put forward proposals to reorganize schools and implement a new geography-based school assignment system, as soon as August 2026, and by the next fall’s enrollment fair at the latest. If passed, these changes would go into effect ahead of the 2027-2028 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While still in early stages, the conversation foreshadows an uphill battle to get either the school reorganization or the assignment system to the finish line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Su was appointed superintendent by then-Mayor London Breed last October, she shelved a plan \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010008/sf-schools-crisis-is-spiraling-with-top-official-to-resign-heres-all-thats-happened\">to close up to three schools and merge up to 16\u003c/a>, which had been plagued with delays, data issues and equity and transparency concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She turned to addressing SFUSD’s massive budget crisis, and is now in the second of a two-year plan to eliminate a structural deficit by slashing more than $150 million in district spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “Strong Schools Resolution,” introduced Tuesday, appears to outline her next directives from the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010831\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12010831 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Then-Mayor London Breed and Superintendent Maria Su speak with students at Yick Wo Alternative Elementary School in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It details the district’s continuing enrollment decline and unequal demand for classroom seats across San Francisco neighborhoods and programs. While some schools, especially those with language immersion tracks, have long waitlists, others are half-empty and stand to lose more students in the coming years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Expanding some schools and consolidating others will ultimately allow all of our schools to be stronger by reinvesting in teachers, programs, and facilities and making the best use of our real estate portfolio, so that we can continue to improve academics while maintaining our financial stability long term to better serve students,” the draft resolution reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It echoes the district’s reasoning for pursuing closures last year, which failed to garner community support and ultimately led to Superintendent Matt Wayne’s resignation under fire.[aside postID=news_12064366 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250818-SFUSDFIRSTDAY-04-KQED.jpg']Families, the teachers’ union and some board members accused the district of not communicating effectively why closures were necessary, using the budget crisis as an excuse despite determining that the closures themselves wouldn’t yield significant savings. SFUSD was also criticized for not engaging schools in the process, a lack of transparency in determining which should shutter and trying to push the plan through on a tight timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing also put board members up for reelection in a tough position: discussing the potential closure of voters’ schools weeks before election day. Tuesday’s resolution would set up a similar timeline, putting a vote on any closure plan Su brings forward next fall, around November’s general election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overhauling the district’s enrollment strategy is likely to be more popular, since there’s broad alignment that the current system is dysfunctional, stressful and bad for stabilizing enrollment. But there doesn’t appear to be consensus that a zone-based system approved in 2020 is the right solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That December, SFUSD passed legislation that would transition from a school assignment lottery, which allows families to request any campus across the city, to a system that assigns students to one of a few schools closest to their homes. It was meant to go into effect for students entering elementary schools in the fall of 2023, but has been put off for years due to the pandemic, possible school closures and the ongoing budget crisis — and because the district has found it nearly impossible to implement equitably.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931650\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1620px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11931650\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF.jpg\" alt=\"A white woman with a grey suit over a blue sweater speaks into a microphone at an event\" width=\"1620\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF.jpg 1620w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1620px) 100vw, 1620px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Then-San Francisco Unified School District board candidate, Alida Fisher, speaks at an election night event at El Rio in San Francisco on Nov. 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Board member Alida Fisher said Tuesday that the plan was opposed by community advisory committees, which warned at the time that the assignments would disadvantage children in the Southeast part of the city, where schools faced years of underinvestment, ailing facilities and less robust staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district also ran into issues creating maps that ensured access to language immersion and special education programs, and balancing three key factors laid out in the legislation — predictability, proximity and diversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member Matt Alexander said he wanted to see more concrete steps from the superintendent, like asking the board to pick two of those three factors to prioritize. He questioned why the resolution was necessary and why the superintendent didn’t just bring forward a proposal for a vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The late-night discussion yielded little concrete progress toward either goal and more questions than answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fisher posed chief among them: “What is going to be different this time?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>’s school board could set a timeline on a plan to close schools, a year after a botched push to shutter up to 11 campuses left staff and district families reeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a meeting earlier this week, members discussed a new resolution that would require Superintendent Maria Su to put forward proposals to reorganize schools and implement a new geography-based school assignment system, as soon as August 2026, and by the next fall’s enrollment fair at the latest. If passed, these changes would go into effect ahead of the 2027-2028 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While still in early stages, the conversation foreshadows an uphill battle to get either the school reorganization or the assignment system to the finish line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Su was appointed superintendent by then-Mayor London Breed last October, she shelved a plan \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12010008/sf-schools-crisis-is-spiraling-with-top-official-to-resign-heres-all-thats-happened\">to close up to three schools and merge up to 16\u003c/a>, which had been plagued with delays, data issues and equity and transparency concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She turned to addressing SFUSD’s massive budget crisis, and is now in the second of a two-year plan to eliminate a structural deficit by slashing more than $150 million in district spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “Strong Schools Resolution,” introduced Tuesday, appears to outline her next directives from the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12010831\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12010831 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241023-SFUSDSUPERINTENDENT-49-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Then-Mayor London Breed and Superintendent Maria Su speak with students at Yick Wo Alternative Elementary School in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It details the district’s continuing enrollment decline and unequal demand for classroom seats across San Francisco neighborhoods and programs. While some schools, especially those with language immersion tracks, have long waitlists, others are half-empty and stand to lose more students in the coming years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Expanding some schools and consolidating others will ultimately allow all of our schools to be stronger by reinvesting in teachers, programs, and facilities and making the best use of our real estate portfolio, so that we can continue to improve academics while maintaining our financial stability long term to better serve students,” the draft resolution reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It echoes the district’s reasoning for pursuing closures last year, which failed to garner community support and ultimately led to Superintendent Matt Wayne’s resignation under fire.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Families, the teachers’ union and some board members accused the district of not communicating effectively why closures were necessary, using the budget crisis as an excuse despite determining that the closures themselves wouldn’t yield significant savings. SFUSD was also criticized for not engaging schools in the process, a lack of transparency in determining which should shutter and trying to push the plan through on a tight timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing also put board members up for reelection in a tough position: discussing the potential closure of voters’ schools weeks before election day. Tuesday’s resolution would set up a similar timeline, putting a vote on any closure plan Su brings forward next fall, around November’s general election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overhauling the district’s enrollment strategy is likely to be more popular, since there’s broad alignment that the current system is dysfunctional, stressful and bad for stabilizing enrollment. But there doesn’t appear to be consensus that a zone-based system approved in 2020 is the right solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That December, SFUSD passed legislation that would transition from a school assignment lottery, which allows families to request any campus across the city, to a system that assigns students to one of a few schools closest to their homes. It was meant to go into effect for students entering elementary schools in the fall of 2023, but has been put off for years due to the pandemic, possible school closures and the ongoing budget crisis — and because the district has found it nearly impossible to implement equitably.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11931650\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1620px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11931650\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF.jpg\" alt=\"A white woman with a grey suit over a blue sweater speaks into a microphone at an event\" width=\"1620\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF.jpg 1620w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/1AFBACD6-E56E-4A4A-8624-783F1286C3AF-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1620px) 100vw, 1620px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Then-San Francisco Unified School District board candidate, Alida Fisher, speaks at an election night event at El Rio in San Francisco on Nov. 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Board member Alida Fisher said Tuesday that the plan was opposed by community advisory committees, which warned at the time that the assignments would disadvantage children in the Southeast part of the city, where schools faced years of underinvestment, ailing facilities and less robust staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district also ran into issues creating maps that ensured access to language immersion and special education programs, and balancing three key factors laid out in the legislation — predictability, proximity and diversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board member Matt Alexander said he wanted to see more concrete steps from the superintendent, like asking the board to pick two of those three factors to prioritize. He questioned why the resolution was necessary and why the superintendent didn’t just bring forward a proposal for a vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The late-night discussion yielded little concrete progress toward either goal and more questions than answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fisher posed chief among them: “What is going to be different this time?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "santa-clara-countys-first-charter-school-close-all-campuses-laying-off-100-staff",
"title": "Santa Clara County’s First Charter School to Close All Campuses, Laying Off 100 Staff",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 1:02 p.m. Monday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 100 teachers and staff at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-county\">Santa Clara County’s\u003c/a> first charter school received layoff notices in late April, as the school prepares to shutter its three remaining schools at the end of the school year due to financial strain and declining enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sal Williams, an English teacher at Downtown College Preparatory’s El Primero Middle School, one of the three schools, said that while the educators are likely to find other jobs, the closure of the schools after nearly 25 years is heartbreaking for the Alum Rock and Downtown San José communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“DCP has been such a wonderful gift to both this side of San José, as well as the Alum Rock community. It’s offered a lot of underrepresented students a chance to thrive,” he told KQED. “It’s been really great both to see how it helps the immediate community, but also the larger community of teachers as well as students, and I think it’s just going to be a huge, huge loss.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Downtown College Prep announced in January that it would close its two middle schools and one high school in June due to decreasing enrollment at its campuses and in San José’s public schools. The decision came less than a year after DCP abruptly closed its Alum Rock High School last spring, giving families just a few months’ notice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“DCP is a fantastic organization and was the original charter school in San José, and it is with great sadness that we’re in this position,” Valerie Royaltey-Quandt, DCP’s interim executive director, said Monday. “And we know that there are a lot of other schools in this situation in our area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DCP has a budget deficit of $4.5 million, according to public documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The organization has taken significant steps to mitigate the situation over the last 12–18 months, including the closure of one high school, staff reductions and discussions with debt holders,” the school’s board wrote in a message shared with the school community in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12007683\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12007683 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Downtown College Prep will close its two middle schools and one high school in June, citing declining enrollment and a $4.5 million budget deficit — less than a year after abruptly shutting its Alum Rock campus. \u003ccite>(Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, with the current limited financial resources and considering the overall trend of lower enrollment in San José, the board made the extremely difficult decision to close all three schools at the end of the 2024–2025 school year,” the message continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three schools serve about 950 students in grades 5 through 12. More than 90% of each campus identify as Hispanic or Latino and more than 80% of students qualify as low-income. At its peak, DCP had about 1,600 students, Royaltey-Quandt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams, who also serves as the president of the school’s teachers union, said DCP was unique in San José, offering students who don’t traditionally have access to small learning environments the chance to foster closer relationships with classmates and teachers.[aside postID=news_12033787 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250401-REGIONALMED-JG-1_qed-1020x680.jpg']“It just helps to personalize education,” he said. “Being in such a small setting, you really get to see these students as people and connect with them that way. That’s just how I like to be as an educator, but I think students really respond to it that their teachers and educators and staff members and admin — everyone knows them as people first.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s especially devastating, Williams said, for teachers and students who transferred into El Primero High School from Alum Rock High this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were able to absorb some of the teachers and some of the students and for them to have to go through this again… I teach juniors and seniors, so I have some students who have lost two schools in the span of their high school career,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 850 students will need to find new schools, which Royaltey-Quandt said the school has been supporting heavily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We started having planning meetings with parents, with students through our curriculum advisory program. We had a very large high school and middle school fair and invited all of our local charter schools and private schools, and we had a good turnout for that,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DCP officials have also been working with local public school districts to verify that transfers of student records are going smoothly, and sending families surveys as well as checking in with parents directly about every two weeks to offer support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The schools struggled financially since at least the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly after employees unionized in 2020 — a rare feat for charter staff — they began to raise concerns about some of DCP’s funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As members began trying to track DCP’s finances, Williams said they started to think more and more that, “It doesn’t seem like we’re operating in the green.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12009621\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12009621 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1251\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers-1020x638.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers-1536x961.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers-1920x1201.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The closure of Downtown College Preparatory’s El Primero Middle School marks a heartbreaking loss for the Alum Rock and Downtown San José communities, especially for students and staff who recently transferred from Alum Rock High. \u003ccite>(Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It kind of came to a head last year … that the organization had a huge fiscal deficit,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last March, the union passed a vote of no confidence in Pete Settelmeyer, the CEO at the time, citing fiscal mismanagement and the abrupt Alum Rock High closure. Settelmeyer resigned months later, and Royaltey-Quandt later took his place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to dwindling enrollment-based funding, DCP has struggled to make up for its reliance on one-time COVID-19 relief funding and the $30 million it owes on bonds used for major construction the school began in 2015.[aside postID=news_12037680 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20240403_BETTYDUONG_GC-12-KQED-1020x680.jpg']“What really sank our organization are these crazy bonds they took out in order to move two schools, including the one I’m working at, into the old Southern Lumber site… and then renovate what we’ve called the ‘Super Gym,’ a gymnasium over at the Alum Rock site,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DCP made a deal with the San José Unified School District 10 years ago to lease a 3.4-acre property on Monterey Road, which now houses its administrative offices along with El Camino Middle School and El Primero High School, for just $1 per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school was issued $34 million in bonds to significantly renovate the property, according to board documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The expectation and the budgeting forecasting at that time was that DCP would continue to stabilize and even increase in enrollment,” Royaltey-Quandt said. “And of course, we know in this area, especially post-COVID, our school-age students have been in decline. So all of those factors really contributed to us not being able to pay what we needed to on the debt owed regarding the bond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that with the coming closures of all DCP schools, the organization will be in default on its bonds, and the bondholders will likely sell the property to cover the remaining debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Taking out huge bonds on buildings that we can’t pay for, I mean, I’m not a real estate person, but it’s not a business move I would ever make,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams told KQED the closures signal a need to reevaluate the charter system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to take a little bit of a closer look at how charter schools are run, because this is something that you just don’t see in the traditional public school,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jgeha\">\u003cem>Joseph Geha\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After nearly 25 Years, Downtown College Preparatory is set to close, leaving 950 students in limbo.\r\n",
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"title": "Santa Clara County’s First Charter School to Close All Campuses, Laying Off 100 Staff | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 1:02 p.m. Monday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 100 teachers and staff at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/santa-clara-county\">Santa Clara County’s\u003c/a> first charter school received layoff notices in late April, as the school prepares to shutter its three remaining schools at the end of the school year due to financial strain and declining enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sal Williams, an English teacher at Downtown College Preparatory’s El Primero Middle School, one of the three schools, said that while the educators are likely to find other jobs, the closure of the schools after nearly 25 years is heartbreaking for the Alum Rock and Downtown San José communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“DCP has been such a wonderful gift to both this side of San José, as well as the Alum Rock community. It’s offered a lot of underrepresented students a chance to thrive,” he told KQED. “It’s been really great both to see how it helps the immediate community, but also the larger community of teachers as well as students, and I think it’s just going to be a huge, huge loss.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Downtown College Prep announced in January that it would close its two middle schools and one high school in June due to decreasing enrollment at its campuses and in San José’s public schools. The decision came less than a year after DCP abruptly closed its Alum Rock High School last spring, giving families just a few months’ notice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“DCP is a fantastic organization and was the original charter school in San José, and it is with great sadness that we’re in this position,” Valerie Royaltey-Quandt, DCP’s interim executive director, said Monday. “And we know that there are a lot of other schools in this situation in our area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DCP has a budget deficit of $4.5 million, according to public documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The organization has taken significant steps to mitigate the situation over the last 12–18 months, including the closure of one high school, staff reductions and discussions with debt holders,” the school’s board wrote in a message shared with the school community in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12007683\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12007683 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/GettyImages-1792528853-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Downtown College Prep will close its two middle schools and one high school in June, citing declining enrollment and a $4.5 million budget deficit — less than a year after abruptly shutting its Alum Rock campus. \u003ccite>(Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, with the current limited financial resources and considering the overall trend of lower enrollment in San José, the board made the extremely difficult decision to close all three schools at the end of the 2024–2025 school year,” the message continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three schools serve about 950 students in grades 5 through 12. More than 90% of each campus identify as Hispanic or Latino and more than 80% of students qualify as low-income. At its peak, DCP had about 1,600 students, Royaltey-Quandt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams, who also serves as the president of the school’s teachers union, said DCP was unique in San José, offering students who don’t traditionally have access to small learning environments the chance to foster closer relationships with classmates and teachers.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It just helps to personalize education,” he said. “Being in such a small setting, you really get to see these students as people and connect with them that way. That’s just how I like to be as an educator, but I think students really respond to it that their teachers and educators and staff members and admin — everyone knows them as people first.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s especially devastating, Williams said, for teachers and students who transferred into El Primero High School from Alum Rock High this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were able to absorb some of the teachers and some of the students and for them to have to go through this again… I teach juniors and seniors, so I have some students who have lost two schools in the span of their high school career,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 850 students will need to find new schools, which Royaltey-Quandt said the school has been supporting heavily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We started having planning meetings with parents, with students through our curriculum advisory program. We had a very large high school and middle school fair and invited all of our local charter schools and private schools, and we had a good turnout for that,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DCP officials have also been working with local public school districts to verify that transfers of student records are going smoothly, and sending families surveys as well as checking in with parents directly about every two weeks to offer support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The schools struggled financially since at least the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly after employees unionized in 2020 — a rare feat for charter staff — they began to raise concerns about some of DCP’s funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As members began trying to track DCP’s finances, Williams said they started to think more and more that, “It doesn’t seem like we’re operating in the green.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12009621\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12009621 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1251\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers-1020x638.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers-1536x961.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SchoolLockers-1920x1201.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The closure of Downtown College Preparatory’s El Primero Middle School marks a heartbreaking loss for the Alum Rock and Downtown San José communities, especially for students and staff who recently transferred from Alum Rock High. \u003ccite>(Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It kind of came to a head last year … that the organization had a huge fiscal deficit,” he told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last March, the union passed a vote of no confidence in Pete Settelmeyer, the CEO at the time, citing fiscal mismanagement and the abrupt Alum Rock High closure. Settelmeyer resigned months later, and Royaltey-Quandt later took his place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to dwindling enrollment-based funding, DCP has struggled to make up for its reliance on one-time COVID-19 relief funding and the $30 million it owes on bonds used for major construction the school began in 2015.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“What really sank our organization are these crazy bonds they took out in order to move two schools, including the one I’m working at, into the old Southern Lumber site… and then renovate what we’ve called the ‘Super Gym,’ a gymnasium over at the Alum Rock site,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DCP made a deal with the San José Unified School District 10 years ago to lease a 3.4-acre property on Monterey Road, which now houses its administrative offices along with El Camino Middle School and El Primero High School, for just $1 per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school was issued $34 million in bonds to significantly renovate the property, according to board documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The expectation and the budgeting forecasting at that time was that DCP would continue to stabilize and even increase in enrollment,” Royaltey-Quandt said. “And of course, we know in this area, especially post-COVID, our school-age students have been in decline. So all of those factors really contributed to us not being able to pay what we needed to on the debt owed regarding the bond.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said that with the coming closures of all DCP schools, the organization will be in default on its bonds, and the bondholders will likely sell the property to cover the remaining debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Taking out huge bonds on buildings that we can’t pay for, I mean, I’m not a real estate person, but it’s not a business move I would ever make,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams told KQED the closures signal a need to reevaluate the charter system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to take a little bit of a closer look at how charter schools are run, because this is something that you just don’t see in the traditional public school,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jgeha\">\u003cem>Joseph Geha\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated at 3:24 pm Thursday \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s schools might not be able to offer at least half of their after-school programs next year after a set of budget solutions meant to keep cuts away from students appears to have backfired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School Board President Jennifer Brouhard said Wednesday that it was shocking to see the proposal to cut funding for aftercare, but emails show that the board was warned by its fiscal adviser more than a month ago that the resolution could endanger the programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Merely adding the Expanded Learning Opportunity Program and After School Education and Safety grants to the list of unavoidable expenses, the cap is exceeded,” the letter from fiscal adviser Luz Cázares on April 8 said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cázares sent the letter warning that the programs would be at risk after she lifted a stay on a board resolution capping spending on the district’s outside contracts, among other expenses, earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, local organizations that facilitate campuses’ after-school care and enrichment programs said they were informed that 50%-80% funding cuts could now leave at least 3,000 students without somewhere to go after class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039974\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039974\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During an Oakland Unified School District 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 cuts would displace more than half of all students currently served by OUSD after-school programs, eliminating a critical support system for families, violating core requirements of state and federal education grants, and the legal mandate to provide after-school services,” the groups said in a joint letter addressed to board members asking them to rescind the resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029001/oakland-school-board-approves-over-100-layoffs-a-day-after-similar-vote-in-sf\">amid approvals for layoffs\u003c/a> and bickering between board members, a slim majority voted to approve a set of “alternative budget solutions” brought forward by Board President Jennifer Brouhard and Vice President Valarie Bachelor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The five-item list capped spending on outside contracts, books and supplies and some employee salaries, along with cutting travel spending. It served as a supplement to a larger package of budget-balancing solutions the board approved in December to patch a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">$95 million deficit\u003c/a>. That deficit has since shrunk to $70 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12039972 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/DSC06624_qed-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Brouhard said that she stands by the spirit of the proposal, which aimed to “reduce consultant and contract spending and ensure every dollar directly supports students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She blamed the district’s staff for the way it interpreted the resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was angry to see after-school programs and field trips cut — programs essential to student learning, safety and well-being,” she said. “These cuts deeply harmed students. This was never our intent, and district leadership knew that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, chief business officer Lisa Grant-Dawson said in an email to Brouhard that she was told prior to voting on the resolution, and again in April, about the “massive changes” it would mean, including to after-school program funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cuts were intended to reallocate some funding back to campuses that were facing budget cuts, Brouhard said at the time. But the district’s plan to slash after-school spending won’t free up any money that’s usable elsewhere, according to the nonprofits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All OUSD funding for after-school comes from the state and federal government and can only be used during out-of-school hours,” the nonprofits’ letter to the board said. “The funding reductions will result in OUSD returning funds it otherwise could have spent on students and staff, and it will lose tens of millions of dollars now and into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lukas Brekke-Miesner, the executive director of Oakland Kids First, which runs Castlemont High School’s after-school enrichment, said these programs are a lifeline for families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I work full time, my partner works full time, and my kids have a safe place to be and someone who they really love looking after them,” he said. “A lot of families — working class, low income, et cetera — just don’t have the necessary support systems to function any other way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said these programs often provide food, homework help and, for younger kids, fun activities like crafts or arts performances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the high school level, Oakland Kids First has “leadership development and enrichment programs, we have on-campus and off-campus internships, we run a one-acre farm on campus that young folks also work on” at Castlemont, Brekke-Miesner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These programs keep them safe and engaged in their communities — a tall order for many teenagers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12039737 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/OaklandSchoolChildren-1020x696.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oftentimes, there’s a certain distance that young people feel, a certain frustration, …and having caring adult allies that are able to connect with them and do programs that are in alignment with their interests — those are things that are pretty unique to after-school,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drastically reducing after-school services could also threaten the district’s compliance with state law and decrease student attendance, the nonprofit partners’ letter said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board members Mike Hutchinson and Clifford Thompson, both of whom opposed the alternative budget solutions proposal, plan to introduce legislation on Wednesday that would rescind it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson said on social media that the policy sent “shockwaves” through the district last week, when schools found out about the total of $29 million of frozen funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the district he represents, schools have between $100,000 and $200,000 cut from their budgets. Separately, the district is considering centralizing some services and reducing school site funding allocations to reduce spending next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danielle Davis, the principal of McClymonds High School, wrote on Facebook that her campus was losing funding for college advisers and mentorship and summer internship stipends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Brekke-Miesner believes the school board members’ proposal was well-intentioned, he said they should be deliberate about what its impact will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Electeds need to be really wary of running afoul of families in this district and voters in this district,” he said. “Ultimately, we have to make decisions in this district that are oriented towards our students and our families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A budget stopgap measure by the Oakland School Board appears to have backfired, jeopardizing the future of aftercare funding.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated at 3:24 pm Thursday \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s schools might not be able to offer at least half of their after-school programs next year after a set of budget solutions meant to keep cuts away from students appears to have backfired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School Board President Jennifer Brouhard said Wednesday that it was shocking to see the proposal to cut funding for aftercare, but emails show that the board was warned by its fiscal adviser more than a month ago that the resolution could endanger the programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Merely adding the Expanded Learning Opportunity Program and After School Education and Safety grants to the list of unavoidable expenses, the cap is exceeded,” the letter from fiscal adviser Luz Cázares on April 8 said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cázares sent the letter warning that the programs would be at risk after she lifted a stay on a board resolution capping spending on the district’s outside contracts, among other expenses, earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, local organizations that facilitate campuses’ after-school care and enrichment programs said they were informed that 50%-80% funding cuts could now leave at least 3,000 students without somewhere to go after class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039974\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039974\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-6_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During an Oakland Unified School District 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 cuts would displace more than half of all students currently served by OUSD after-school programs, eliminating a critical support system for families, violating core requirements of state and federal education grants, and the legal mandate to provide after-school services,” the groups said in a joint letter addressed to board members asking them to rescind the resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029001/oakland-school-board-approves-over-100-layoffs-a-day-after-similar-vote-in-sf\">amid approvals for layoffs\u003c/a> and bickering between board members, a slim majority voted to approve a set of “alternative budget solutions” brought forward by Board President Jennifer Brouhard and Vice President Valarie Bachelor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The five-item list capped spending on outside contracts, books and supplies and some employee salaries, along with cutting travel spending. It served as a supplement to a larger package of budget-balancing solutions the board approved in December to patch a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">$95 million deficit\u003c/a>. That deficit has since shrunk to $70 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Brouhard said that she stands by the spirit of the proposal, which aimed to “reduce consultant and contract spending and ensure every dollar directly supports students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She blamed the district’s staff for the way it interpreted the resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was angry to see after-school programs and field trips cut — programs essential to student learning, safety and well-being,” she said. “These cuts deeply harmed students. This was never our intent, and district leadership knew that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, chief business officer Lisa Grant-Dawson said in an email to Brouhard that she was told prior to voting on the resolution, and again in April, about the “massive changes” it would mean, including to after-school program funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cuts were intended to reallocate some funding back to campuses that were facing budget cuts, Brouhard said at the time. But the district’s plan to slash after-school spending won’t free up any money that’s usable elsewhere, according to the nonprofits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All OUSD funding for after-school comes from the state and federal government and can only be used during out-of-school hours,” the nonprofits’ letter to the board said. “The funding reductions will result in OUSD returning funds it otherwise could have spent on students and staff, and it will lose tens of millions of dollars now and into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lukas Brekke-Miesner, the executive director of Oakland Kids First, which runs Castlemont High School’s after-school enrichment, said these programs are a lifeline for families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I work full time, my partner works full time, and my kids have a safe place to be and someone who they really love looking after them,” he said. “A lot of families — working class, low income, et cetera — just don’t have the necessary support systems to function any other way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said these programs often provide food, homework help and, for younger kids, fun activities like crafts or arts performances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the high school level, Oakland Kids First has “leadership development and enrichment programs, we have on-campus and off-campus internships, we run a one-acre farm on campus that young folks also work on” at Castlemont, Brekke-Miesner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These programs keep them safe and engaged in their communities — a tall order for many teenagers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oftentimes, there’s a certain distance that young people feel, a certain frustration, …and having caring adult allies that are able to connect with them and do programs that are in alignment with their interests — those are things that are pretty unique to after-school,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drastically reducing after-school services could also threaten the district’s compliance with state law and decrease student attendance, the nonprofit partners’ letter said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board members Mike Hutchinson and Clifford Thompson, both of whom opposed the alternative budget solutions proposal, plan to introduce legislation on Wednesday that would rescind it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson said on social media that the policy sent “shockwaves” through the district last week, when schools found out about the total of $29 million of frozen funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the district he represents, schools have between $100,000 and $200,000 cut from their budgets. Separately, the district is considering centralizing some services and reducing school site funding allocations to reduce spending next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danielle Davis, the principal of McClymonds High School, wrote on Facebook that her campus was losing funding for college advisers and mentorship and summer internship stipends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Brekke-Miesner believes the school board members’ proposal was well-intentioned, he said they should be deliberate about what its impact will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Electeds need to be really wary of running afoul of families in this district and voters in this district,” he said. “Ultimately, we have to make decisions in this district that are oriented towards our students and our families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "ousd-on-track-run-out-of-cash-after-avoiding-hard-decisions-scathing-letter-says",
"title": "OUSD on Track to Run Out of Cash After Avoiding Hard Decisions, Scathing Letter Says",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 4:39 p.m. Wednesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s school district will run out of money as soon as next fall if it doesn’t make significant budget changes, the head of the Alameda County Office of Education said in a new letter that lays out in stark terms the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">fiscal crisis gripping the district\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a>, while facing a $152 million budget shortfall this year, is putting off difficult but consequential decisions, according to the letter sent to the district on Tuesday and obtained by KQED. The letter went on to say OUSD could be out of cash by November and unable to meet its financial obligations if it doesn’t approve long-delayed cost-saving measures — most significantly by possibly \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12014397/parents-teachers-say-oakland-school-mergers-could-hurt-students-in-the-flatlands\">closing and merging schools\u003c/a> — in the next six months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the Board does not make decisions now, it will rapidly lose the ability to make them at all,” Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro wrote in the letter, raising the specter of the total loss of local control if the district needs another bankruptcy loan from the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castro’s office is also stepping up its oversight of the beleaguered district, a move that was automatically triggered by the district’s negative budget certification in its first fiscal review of the year. The Alameda County Office of Education will assign a fiscal adviser to guide OUSD through the next six months as it rolls out its latest budget-balancing plan, passed in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a last opportunity to provide additional intervention to support the Board in their decision-making efforts,” Castro wrote in the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017853\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017853\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Naija Garg, 8, attends the Oakland Unified School District Board Meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. The School Board took public comment on a proposed merger of 10 different schools. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The warning comes on the heels of a tense final \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">school board meeting in December\u003c/a>, where board members were expected to vote on a proposal to merge 10 small schools that are co-located on five campuses. Despite the standing-room-only crowd of emotional parents, students and staff, no representative made a motion to vote on the plan, leaving it stalled indefinitely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former board president Sam Davis, who opted not to run for re-election, cautioned against kicking the can further down the road, since it would only mean making larger cuts later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did my best this year as your president to carry us through the AB 1912 [consolidation] process,” he said before the meeting closed. “Yet here we are in December without a decision to move forward with the school closures and consolidations that we all know are inevitable given the rising cost of living that is pushing families out of Oakland and declining enrollment overall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12021883 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/02172023_ksuzuki_tkprogress-010_qed-1020x679.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD has backed off of plans to close schools twice since 2021, when a plan to shutter 11 schools led to widespread anger from families and a hunger strike by two staff members. That proposal passed, but it was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11937906/oakland-school-board-halts-controversial-closure-plan-sparing-5-elementary-schools\">reversed\u003c/a> when a new board took office in January 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, the mergers were proposed after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013739/oakland-school-board-spurns-campus-closures-plans-merge-some-schools-instead\">larger list of schools\u003c/a> to shutter was floated to board members by OUSD Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell but didn’t receive enough support, Davis told KQED at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FCMAT, the financial company tasked with assisting the district and county with financial management, said the district has repeatedly failed to use its tools to develop a “coherent” fiscal solvency plan, according to the Alameda County letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Instead of using these resources, the district has created multiple alternative plans, which it continues to alter or bypass when faced with difficult decisions,” FCMAT’s review said. “As a result, the district board defers necessary decisions, and when made, they are either rescinded or their implementation is delayed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget crisis isn’t new — OUSD has been in state receivership since 2003 and is currently set to regain full financial control in 2026 after making its final loan payment to the state — but it has been exacerbated by declining enrollment and significant increases in compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the COVID-19 pandemic, OUSD was able to lean on one-time relief funds, especially as its number of students declined, but those have now dried up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017854\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017854\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students, families, educators and community members attend the Oakland Unified School District Board Meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In June 2023, the board voted to give teachers a 10% raise after they went on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949458/oakland-teachers-strike-ends-as-union-reaches-agreement-with-school-district\">seven-day strike\u003c/a>, but without making necessary budget adjustments elsewhere, it’s been spending beyond its means to cover these new wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While enrollment dropped in the early 2000s, OUSD opened \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11726682/why-does-oakland-have-so-many-small-schools\">more than 40 new small campuses\u003c/a> as part of a movement meant to improve equity for students in Oakland’s lower-income neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lisa Grant-Dawson, the district’s chief budget officer, said that in the past, declining enrollment was something “almost not accepted” by the district. For years, they’ve pushed off restructuring and scraped by by making mid-year cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been decades of not dealing with systemic issues and ultimately asking the superintendent … and the staff to make it work for the year with some commitment that ‘We’ll do something in the future,’” she told KQED. “That doesn’t happen and we just reach the place where we’ve run out of space for us to be able to make amends as we have historically.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current budget-balancing process — known as the Re-Envision, Redesign, and Restructure plan — includes reviewing the district’s footprint, which could mean closing or merging schools and restructuring its staffing formula, business and operations, and school site allocations. The board will also examine equity and student outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will add to the cost savings the budget team identifies in the 2025-2026 spending plan after the board approved more than two dozen budget-balancing solutions for district staff last month. These include centralizing contracts with community agencies and supply manufacturers and reducing school site discretionary funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new board seems less amenable to school consolidations than the last without Davis, but Castro warned that officials have reached the “fork in the road” she’s warned about for the last year of the budget discussion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One path leads back to full local control: paying off the loan, exiting trusteeship, and embarking on a new era of sustainable community schools. The other path — one paved by refusing to make tradeoffs and by deferring hard decisions — leads quickly to another bankruptcy loan from the State and a forfeit of local decision-making authority,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grant-Dawson isn’t sure that’s enough time to fully develop a strategic fiscal plan or if the board will move to implement it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that they can develop concepts. I think what we’ve seen historically, though, is there is a commitment to move in a direction, you just don’t get there,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Oakland’s school district will run out of money as soon as next fall if it doesn’t take long-delayed cost-saving measures, according to Alameda County education officials.",
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"title": "OUSD on Track to Run Out of Cash After Avoiding Hard Decisions, Scathing Letter Says | KQED",
"description": "Oakland’s school district will run out of money as soon as next fall if it doesn’t take long-delayed cost-saving measures, according to Alameda County education officials.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 4:39 p.m. Wednesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s school district will run out of money as soon as next fall if it doesn’t make significant budget changes, the head of the Alameda County Office of Education said in a new letter that lays out in stark terms the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">fiscal crisis gripping the district\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a>, while facing a $152 million budget shortfall this year, is putting off difficult but consequential decisions, according to the letter sent to the district on Tuesday and obtained by KQED. The letter went on to say OUSD could be out of cash by November and unable to meet its financial obligations if it doesn’t approve long-delayed cost-saving measures — most significantly by possibly \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12014397/parents-teachers-say-oakland-school-mergers-could-hurt-students-in-the-flatlands\">closing and merging schools\u003c/a> — in the next six months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the Board does not make decisions now, it will rapidly lose the ability to make them at all,” Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro wrote in the letter, raising the specter of the total loss of local control if the district needs another bankruptcy loan from the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castro’s office is also stepping up its oversight of the beleaguered district, a move that was automatically triggered by the district’s negative budget certification in its first fiscal review of the year. The Alameda County Office of Education will assign a fiscal adviser to guide OUSD through the next six months as it rolls out its latest budget-balancing plan, passed in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a last opportunity to provide additional intervention to support the Board in their decision-making efforts,” Castro wrote in the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017853\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017853\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Naija Garg, 8, attends the Oakland Unified School District Board Meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. The School Board took public comment on a proposed merger of 10 different schools. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The warning comes on the heels of a tense final \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">school board meeting in December\u003c/a>, where board members were expected to vote on a proposal to merge 10 small schools that are co-located on five campuses. Despite the standing-room-only crowd of emotional parents, students and staff, no representative made a motion to vote on the plan, leaving it stalled indefinitely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former board president Sam Davis, who opted not to run for re-election, cautioned against kicking the can further down the road, since it would only mean making larger cuts later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did my best this year as your president to carry us through the AB 1912 [consolidation] process,” he said before the meeting closed. “Yet here we are in December without a decision to move forward with the school closures and consolidations that we all know are inevitable given the rising cost of living that is pushing families out of Oakland and declining enrollment overall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD has backed off of plans to close schools twice since 2021, when a plan to shutter 11 schools led to widespread anger from families and a hunger strike by two staff members. That proposal passed, but it was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11937906/oakland-school-board-halts-controversial-closure-plan-sparing-5-elementary-schools\">reversed\u003c/a> when a new board took office in January 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, the mergers were proposed after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013739/oakland-school-board-spurns-campus-closures-plans-merge-some-schools-instead\">larger list of schools\u003c/a> to shutter was floated to board members by OUSD Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell but didn’t receive enough support, Davis told KQED at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FCMAT, the financial company tasked with assisting the district and county with financial management, said the district has repeatedly failed to use its tools to develop a “coherent” fiscal solvency plan, according to the Alameda County letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Instead of using these resources, the district has created multiple alternative plans, which it continues to alter or bypass when faced with difficult decisions,” FCMAT’s review said. “As a result, the district board defers necessary decisions, and when made, they are either rescinded or their implementation is delayed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget crisis isn’t new — OUSD has been in state receivership since 2003 and is currently set to regain full financial control in 2026 after making its final loan payment to the state — but it has been exacerbated by declining enrollment and significant increases in compensation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the COVID-19 pandemic, OUSD was able to lean on one-time relief funds, especially as its number of students declined, but those have now dried up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017854\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017854\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-016-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students, families, educators and community members attend the Oakland Unified School District Board Meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In June 2023, the board voted to give teachers a 10% raise after they went on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949458/oakland-teachers-strike-ends-as-union-reaches-agreement-with-school-district\">seven-day strike\u003c/a>, but without making necessary budget adjustments elsewhere, it’s been spending beyond its means to cover these new wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While enrollment dropped in the early 2000s, OUSD opened \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11726682/why-does-oakland-have-so-many-small-schools\">more than 40 new small campuses\u003c/a> as part of a movement meant to improve equity for students in Oakland’s lower-income neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lisa Grant-Dawson, the district’s chief budget officer, said that in the past, declining enrollment was something “almost not accepted” by the district. For years, they’ve pushed off restructuring and scraped by by making mid-year cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been decades of not dealing with systemic issues and ultimately asking the superintendent … and the staff to make it work for the year with some commitment that ‘We’ll do something in the future,’” she told KQED. “That doesn’t happen and we just reach the place where we’ve run out of space for us to be able to make amends as we have historically.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current budget-balancing process — known as the Re-Envision, Redesign, and Restructure plan — includes reviewing the district’s footprint, which could mean closing or merging schools and restructuring its staffing formula, business and operations, and school site allocations. The board will also examine equity and student outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will add to the cost savings the budget team identifies in the 2025-2026 spending plan after the board approved more than two dozen budget-balancing solutions for district staff last month. These include centralizing contracts with community agencies and supply manufacturers and reducing school site discretionary funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new board seems less amenable to school consolidations than the last without Davis, but Castro warned that officials have reached the “fork in the road” she’s warned about for the last year of the budget discussion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One path leads back to full local control: paying off the loan, exiting trusteeship, and embarking on a new era of sustainable community schools. The other path — one paved by refusing to make tradeoffs and by deferring hard decisions — leads quickly to another bankruptcy loan from the State and a forfeit of local decision-making authority,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grant-Dawson isn’t sure that’s enough time to fully develop a strategic fiscal plan or if the board will move to implement it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that they can develop concepts. I think what we’ve seen historically, though, is there is a commitment to move in a direction, you just don’t get there,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains",
"title": "Oakland’s School Merger Plan Has Stalled, and the District’s Huge Deficit Remains",
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"headTitle": "Oakland’s School Merger Plan Has Stalled, and the District’s Huge Deficit Remains | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>A controversial proposal to merge 10 schools appears to have stalled at the Oakland school board, which opted not to vote on the consolidations on Wednesday night as planned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> is at risk of running out of money if it does not take steps to quickly close a $95 million shortfall projected in next year’s budget and a larger structural deficit long-term, according to its most recent financial report. The mergers, which would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013739/oakland-school-board-spurns-campus-closures-plans-merge-some-schools-instead\">combine 10 small schools that share five campuses\u003c/a>, could save $3 million, according to the district — leaving significant cuts to be made as OUSD faces a possible backslide into total state control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board did pass a resolution on Wednesday, giving the district permission to implement more than two dozen other cost-cutting measures into the 2025–26 budget to try to bridge that nearly hundred-million-dollar gap, though it represents only an initial step and no confirmed cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the long list of budget-balancing proposals from district staff, the school merger plan was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12014397/parents-teachers-say-oakland-school-mergers-could-hurt-students-in-the-flatlands\">especially unpopular with families and school employees\u003c/a>, who worried it would disproportionately hurt low-income schools and remove specialized programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The proposals, past and present … are not OK. They are not inclusive of our families and our students,” said parent Elizabeth Knight, whose child is in transitional kindergarten at International Community School, one of the schools that would have merged. “If the district’s vision to reduce the footprint is to get every elementary school to 500-plus students, say this transparently without jargon. And include the schools that are not under-resourced, that are not serving majority socio-economically disadvantaged students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017852\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017852\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033-1920x1279.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 on Wednesday, 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>After hearing from emotional students, parents and staff members, no board member made a motion to vote on the item.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There has been no motion, so there is no vote, and this will not happen,” Board President Sam Davis told the packed board room. “This will not move forward. There’s nothing happening on the mergers tonight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The newly elected school board could return to some version of the merger proposal in January after it is sworn in, though the plan likely won’t gain any more support. Davis, one of the strongest advocates for the mergers, will depart the board after this term. Rachel Latta, who will fill his seat, and Patrice Berry, who will represent District 5, have both been skeptical of the effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wednesday wasn’t the first time that school closures, posited as a cost-saving measure for the district as it battles low enrollment and rising costs, have been kicked down the road in OUSD. In 2021, a plan to shutter 11 campuses — which spurred widespread outrage and even a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11905982/how-dare-you-oakland-school-closure-decision-inspires-new-opposition-efforts\">hunger strike by two staff members\u003c/a> — was reversed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017855\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017855\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Navie Davis, 14, becomes emotional as she makes a public comment to the Oakland Unified School District Board about a proposed merger during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Board member Mike Hutchinson, who led the effort to reverse the earlier school closures, did not appear at the dais until after discussion of the mergers ended on Wednesday. He has also been vocally opposed to this year’s proposal for school closures, which was initially a more robust plan to shutter campuses in addition to the mergers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis, who supported the wider closure plan, said a larger list of campus consolidations presented to board members by Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell was dropped due to a lack of support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11726682/why-does-oakland-have-so-many-small-schools.\">Oakland’s movement toward small schools\u003c/a> and declining enrollment, it is operating more schools than it needs to, according to the district. OUSD currently has 77 school sites, despite an efficiency analysis that suggested it should only have 46. Davis believes the true number that OUSD should maintain, considering equity and other factors, likely falls somewhere in the middle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the consolidation plan won’t go forward as of now, district staff warned the board that there isn’t time to push off deep and likely painful cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017853\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017853\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Naija Garg, 8, attends the Oakland Unified School District Board Meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. The School Board took public comment on a proposed merger of ten different schools. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We are a billion-dollar organization, which is why you have got to make billion-dollar organization decisions,” chief business officer Lisa Grant-Dawson said. “I don’t see it, and I’m very concerned about the darkness. I don’t see how we’re going to get there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district certified a negative budget on Wednesday, which indicates that if its spending remains as is, it will likely be unable to pay its expenses over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, it is 18 months away from completing its final loan payment to the state and exiting state receivership. OUSD has been under state control since 2002, when it ran out of funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12017631 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/SFUSDStudentsFamiliesGetty-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, OUSD has worked toward good financial standing and built up a strong reserve fund, but its growth has quickly turned into overspending, as wages and the community school model have driven up spending and pandemic relief funds dried up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June 2023, the board voted to give teachers a 10% raise after they \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949458/oakland-teachers-strike-ends-as-union-reaches-agreement-with-school-district\">went on a seven-day strike\u003c/a>. But without making necessary budget adjustments elsewhere, the district has been spending beyond its means to cover these new wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a crisis that we very intentionally created because we decided as a board that we absolutely needed to prioritize giving increased compensation to all of our employees because people are leaving education, costs are rising around the Bay Area,” Davis said. “We needed to give raises to all of our employees, even though we didn’t have the resources to do it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget-balancing proposal passed by the board on Wednesday gives the district permission to implement 30 outlined cost-cutting solutions into the 2025–26 budget. Those include centralizing contracts, both with service manufacturers — like those that provide copiers — and community agencies. Both have historically been managed by school sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other options are to reduce schools’ discretionary funding, potentially eliminating some positions and reducing the majority of overtime pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The motion passed with four votes. Board Directors VanCedric Williams, Valarie Bachelor and Davis dissented for differing reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with the other cost-cutting measures, though, Johnson-Trammell said she believes school consolidations are only a matter of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t get to closing the deficit for good without addressing the number of schools we have,” she said. “This is math. This isn’t conjecture. There is not $95 million worth of investments, staff — support and central office — to get you out of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The Oakland school board opted not to vote on a controversial plan to merge 10 schools. Meanwhile, it must quickly close a $95 million projected shortfall.",
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"title": "Oakland’s School Merger Plan Has Stalled, and the District’s Huge Deficit Remains | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A controversial proposal to merge 10 schools appears to have stalled at the Oakland school board, which opted not to vote on the consolidations on Wednesday night as planned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> is at risk of running out of money if it does not take steps to quickly close a $95 million shortfall projected in next year’s budget and a larger structural deficit long-term, according to its most recent financial report. The mergers, which would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013739/oakland-school-board-spurns-campus-closures-plans-merge-some-schools-instead\">combine 10 small schools that share five campuses\u003c/a>, could save $3 million, according to the district — leaving significant cuts to be made as OUSD faces a possible backslide into total state control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board did pass a resolution on Wednesday, giving the district permission to implement more than two dozen other cost-cutting measures into the 2025–26 budget to try to bridge that nearly hundred-million-dollar gap, though it represents only an initial step and no confirmed cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the long list of budget-balancing proposals from district staff, the school merger plan was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12014397/parents-teachers-say-oakland-school-mergers-could-hurt-students-in-the-flatlands\">especially unpopular with families and school employees\u003c/a>, who worried it would disproportionately hurt low-income schools and remove specialized programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The proposals, past and present … are not OK. They are not inclusive of our families and our students,” said parent Elizabeth Knight, whose child is in transitional kindergarten at International Community School, one of the schools that would have merged. “If the district’s vision to reduce the footprint is to get every elementary school to 500-plus students, say this transparently without jargon. And include the schools that are not under-resourced, that are not serving majority socio-economically disadvantaged students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017852\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017852\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-033-1920x1279.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 on Wednesday, 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>After hearing from emotional students, parents and staff members, no board member made a motion to vote on the item.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There has been no motion, so there is no vote, and this will not happen,” Board President Sam Davis told the packed board room. “This will not move forward. There’s nothing happening on the mergers tonight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The newly elected school board could return to some version of the merger proposal in January after it is sworn in, though the plan likely won’t gain any more support. Davis, one of the strongest advocates for the mergers, will depart the board after this term. Rachel Latta, who will fill his seat, and Patrice Berry, who will represent District 5, have both been skeptical of the effort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wednesday wasn’t the first time that school closures, posited as a cost-saving measure for the district as it battles low enrollment and rising costs, have been kicked down the road in OUSD. In 2021, a plan to shutter 11 campuses — which spurred widespread outrage and even a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11905982/how-dare-you-oakland-school-closure-decision-inspires-new-opposition-efforts\">hunger strike by two staff members\u003c/a> — was reversed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017855\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017855\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-012-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Navie Davis, 14, becomes emotional as she makes a public comment to the Oakland Unified School District Board about a proposed merger during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Board member Mike Hutchinson, who led the effort to reverse the earlier school closures, did not appear at the dais until after discussion of the mergers ended on Wednesday. He has also been vocally opposed to this year’s proposal for school closures, which was initially a more robust plan to shutter campuses in addition to the mergers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis, who supported the wider closure plan, said a larger list of campus consolidations presented to board members by Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell was dropped due to a lack of support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11726682/why-does-oakland-have-so-many-small-schools.\">Oakland’s movement toward small schools\u003c/a> and declining enrollment, it is operating more schools than it needs to, according to the district. OUSD currently has 77 school sites, despite an efficiency analysis that suggested it should only have 46. Davis believes the true number that OUSD should maintain, considering equity and other factors, likely falls somewhere in the middle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the consolidation plan won’t go forward as of now, district staff warned the board that there isn’t time to push off deep and likely painful cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12017853\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12017853\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-029-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Naija Garg, 8, attends the Oakland Unified School District Board Meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. The School Board took public comment on a proposed merger of ten different schools. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We are a billion-dollar organization, which is why you have got to make billion-dollar organization decisions,” chief business officer Lisa Grant-Dawson said. “I don’t see it, and I’m very concerned about the darkness. I don’t see how we’re going to get there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district certified a negative budget on Wednesday, which indicates that if its spending remains as is, it will likely be unable to pay its expenses over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, it is 18 months away from completing its final loan payment to the state and exiting state receivership. OUSD has been under state control since 2002, when it ran out of funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, OUSD has worked toward good financial standing and built up a strong reserve fund, but its growth has quickly turned into overspending, as wages and the community school model have driven up spending and pandemic relief funds dried up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June 2023, the board voted to give teachers a 10% raise after they \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949458/oakland-teachers-strike-ends-as-union-reaches-agreement-with-school-district\">went on a seven-day strike\u003c/a>. But without making necessary budget adjustments elsewhere, the district has been spending beyond its means to cover these new wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a crisis that we very intentionally created because we decided as a board that we absolutely needed to prioritize giving increased compensation to all of our employees because people are leaving education, costs are rising around the Bay Area,” Davis said. “We needed to give raises to all of our employees, even though we didn’t have the resources to do it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget-balancing proposal passed by the board on Wednesday gives the district permission to implement 30 outlined cost-cutting solutions into the 2025–26 budget. Those include centralizing contracts, both with service manufacturers — like those that provide copiers — and community agencies. Both have historically been managed by school sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other options are to reduce schools’ discretionary funding, potentially eliminating some positions and reducing the majority of overtime pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The motion passed with four votes. Board Directors VanCedric Williams, Valarie Bachelor and Davis dissented for differing reasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even with the other cost-cutting measures, though, Johnson-Trammell said she believes school consolidations are only a matter of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t get to closing the deficit for good without addressing the number of schools we have,” she said. “This is math. This isn’t conjecture. There is not $95 million worth of investments, staff — support and central office — to get you out of that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Dozens of Oakland parents and educators urged the school board to reject a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013739/oakland-school-board-spurns-campus-closures-plans-merge-some-schools-instead\">proposal to merge five pairs of public schools\u003c/a> at its meeting on Wednesday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mergers, announced last week after the board didn’t back a wider school closure plan, would save the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> money and account for declining enrollment, according to Chief Academic Officer Sondra Aguilera. However, they would also affect small school communities and bilingual programs that families say are sorely needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan would combine 10 schools that share five campuses next fall. The sites have a collective of 3,300 students, with 176 to 440 each. Merging them will save up to $3.5 million a year, the district predicts — making just a dent in its anticipated $174 million two-year deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board is scheduled to vote on the proposed mergers, along with other cost-saving measures, on Dec. 11.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Wednesday’s board meeting, many parents and teachers spoke out against the proposal, which they believe is rushed and could hurt students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Less than a week for families to be able to respond to this plan and then four weeks before they’re actually going to be voting on it feels really like a lack of respect for the people that are being impacted,” said Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, a spokesperson for the Oakland Education Association and former EnCompass Academy teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nine of the 10 schools on the merger list opened after OUSD passed a policy encouraging more small schools in 1997, especially in the city’s lower-income “flatlands” neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four of the proposed mergers would combine one school that runs a biliteracy or dual immersion Spanish program with one that does not. One of them also combines a high school and middle school serving different grade levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12013739 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/030_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the current schools also have large numbers of Black students, Taiz-Rancifer said, and she worries about either community being displaced in the mergers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What you’re going to wind up having is the elimination of one of the programs,” Taiz-Rancifer told KQED. “Maybe you’re going to eliminate a language program, but then … you’re displacing those kids because their parents are going to want their students to be able to get access to those language programs — or you’re going to displace Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is why they haven’t done it in years because it’s very difficult to think about how you can merge these programs,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD last tried to consolidate schools in 2022. That plan to close 11 campuses led to a hunger strike, multiple site occupations and outrage from parents and educators who said it would have disproportionately affected low-income and underrepresented students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was approved in February 2022, but after taking office in January 2023, the current board \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11937906/oakland-school-board-halts-controversial-closure-plan-sparing-5-elementary-schools\">reneged on the plan\u003c/a>, opting to close just two schools, merge one and eliminate middle-school grades at another. Only OUSD Board President Sam Davis and Director Clifford Thompson voted against rescinding the closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis said Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell similarly proposed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12011731/oakland-school-closures-are-back-on-the-table-less-than-2-years-after-plan-was-axed\">a larger list of schools to close\u003c/a> on top of the five mergers being considered this fall but couldn’t garner support for the plan from the majority of the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He worries that the five mergers alone won’t go far enough to save the district from state intervention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very clear what we need to do to become more sustainable, and it’s not clear right now what our board’s plan is to get there,” Davis told KQED last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much like San Francisco’s school district — which recently halted a plan to close several schools — OUSD must close a massive budget deficit and bridge gaps left by declining enrollment. The district’s total enrollment has fallen 30% over the last 20 years and is headed for a “fiscal cliff,” according to Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD is just about 18 months away from regaining full local control after being taken over by the state in 2003 due to fiscal insolvency. The district risks returning to that point if it cannot correct its recurring budget shortfall, a task that \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/OUSD-Broken-Culture.FR-2.pdf\">an Alameda County Grand Jury report\u003c/a> in 2019 said was being kicked down the road amid dysfunction, waste and “a broken administrative culture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson-Trammell has called the move to merge schools a step in the district’s long-term plan toward fiscal stability, including centralizing service providers and school-site spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But all that could change come January when the board will turn over again. Director Mike Hutchinson, a staunch opponent of school closures, will remain on the board, and Rachel Latta, who will take over Davis’ seat, has also expressed concern over them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thompson appears headed for reelection in District 7, which contains four of the affected campuses, and two other new board members will serve District 5 and District 3, where the remaining six schools are located.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The schools the district plans to merge are:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>International Community School and Think College Now Elementary School\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Manzanita Community School and Manzanita SEED Elementary School\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>United for Success Academy and Life Academy\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Acorn Woodland Elementary and EnCompass Academy\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Esperanza Elementary School\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Dozens of Oakland parents and educators urged the school board to reject a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12013739/oakland-school-board-spurns-campus-closures-plans-merge-some-schools-instead\">proposal to merge five pairs of public schools\u003c/a> at its meeting on Wednesday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mergers, announced last week after the board didn’t back a wider school closure plan, would save the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> money and account for declining enrollment, according to Chief Academic Officer Sondra Aguilera. However, they would also affect small school communities and bilingual programs that families say are sorely needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan would combine 10 schools that share five campuses next fall. The sites have a collective of 3,300 students, with 176 to 440 each. Merging them will save up to $3.5 million a year, the district predicts — making just a dent in its anticipated $174 million two-year deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board is scheduled to vote on the proposed mergers, along with other cost-saving measures, on Dec. 11.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Wednesday’s board meeting, many parents and teachers spoke out against the proposal, which they believe is rushed and could hurt students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Less than a week for families to be able to respond to this plan and then four weeks before they’re actually going to be voting on it feels really like a lack of respect for the people that are being impacted,” said Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, a spokesperson for the Oakland Education Association and former EnCompass Academy teacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nine of the 10 schools on the merger list opened after OUSD passed a policy encouraging more small schools in 1997, especially in the city’s lower-income “flatlands” neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four of the proposed mergers would combine one school that runs a biliteracy or dual immersion Spanish program with one that does not. One of them also combines a high school and middle school serving different grade levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the current schools also have large numbers of Black students, Taiz-Rancifer said, and she worries about either community being displaced in the mergers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What you’re going to wind up having is the elimination of one of the programs,” Taiz-Rancifer told KQED. “Maybe you’re going to eliminate a language program, but then … you’re displacing those kids because their parents are going to want their students to be able to get access to those language programs — or you’re going to displace Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is why they haven’t done it in years because it’s very difficult to think about how you can merge these programs,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD last tried to consolidate schools in 2022. That plan to close 11 campuses led to a hunger strike, multiple site occupations and outrage from parents and educators who said it would have disproportionately affected low-income and underrepresented students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was approved in February 2022, but after taking office in January 2023, the current board \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11937906/oakland-school-board-halts-controversial-closure-plan-sparing-5-elementary-schools\">reneged on the plan\u003c/a>, opting to close just two schools, merge one and eliminate middle-school grades at another. Only OUSD Board President Sam Davis and Director Clifford Thompson voted against rescinding the closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis said Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell similarly proposed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12011731/oakland-school-closures-are-back-on-the-table-less-than-2-years-after-plan-was-axed\">a larger list of schools to close\u003c/a> on top of the five mergers being considered this fall but couldn’t garner support for the plan from the majority of the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He worries that the five mergers alone won’t go far enough to save the district from state intervention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very clear what we need to do to become more sustainable, and it’s not clear right now what our board’s plan is to get there,” Davis told KQED last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much like San Francisco’s school district — which recently halted a plan to close several schools — OUSD must close a massive budget deficit and bridge gaps left by declining enrollment. The district’s total enrollment has fallen 30% over the last 20 years and is headed for a “fiscal cliff,” according to Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD is just about 18 months away from regaining full local control after being taken over by the state in 2003 due to fiscal insolvency. The district risks returning to that point if it cannot correct its recurring budget shortfall, a task that \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/OUSD-Broken-Culture.FR-2.pdf\">an Alameda County Grand Jury report\u003c/a> in 2019 said was being kicked down the road amid dysfunction, waste and “a broken administrative culture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson-Trammell has called the move to merge schools a step in the district’s long-term plan toward fiscal stability, including centralizing service providers and school-site spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But all that could change come January when the board will turn over again. Director Mike Hutchinson, a staunch opponent of school closures, will remain on the board, and Rachel Latta, who will take over Davis’ seat, has also expressed concern over them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thompson appears headed for reelection in District 7, which contains four of the affected campuses, and two other new board members will serve District 5 and District 3, where the remaining six schools are located.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The schools the district plans to merge are:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>International Community School and Think College Now Elementary School\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Manzanita Community School and Manzanita SEED Elementary School\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>United for Success Academy and Life Academy\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Acorn Woodland Elementary and EnCompass Academy\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Esperanza Elementary School\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oakland-school-board-spurns-campus-closures-plans-merge-some-schools-instead",
"title": "Oakland School Board Spurns Campus Closures, Plans to Merge Some Schools Instead",
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"content": "\u003cp>Facing a major budget crisis, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> plans to merge 10 co-located public schools next August rather than close any campuses, district leaders said Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While OUSD’s staff initially created a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12011731/oakland-school-closures-are-back-on-the-table-less-than-2-years-after-plan-was-axed\">larger list of schools to consolidate\u003c/a> in addition to the co-located campuses, a majority of the school board did not support the plan, according to outgoing president Sam Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mergers are one part of the district’s plan to reduce costs to close a $174 million budget deficit. OUSD is on the brink of regaining total local control after a state takeover in 2003, but fiscal uncertainty threatens to thwart that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The schools the district plans to merge are:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>International Community School and Think College Now Elementary School\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Manzanita Community School and Manzanita SEED Elementary School\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>United for Success Academy and Life Academy\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Acorn Woodland Elementary and EnCompass Academy\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Esperanza Elementary School\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Superintendent Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell said in an email to families that the mergers would create schools that better serve students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These changes will allow us to combine resources and staff to create stronger educational programs where our students are now,” the message reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis, a first-term board member who did not run for reelection, said he’s worried that without more closures now, the district could end up under the control of Alameda County — and those closures could come anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very clear what we need to do to become more sustainable,” he told KQED. “And it’s not clear right now what our board’s plan is to get there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12013790\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12013790\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flowers grow in a garden in the schoolyard at International Community School in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These mergers are part of the district’s fiscal stabilization plan. A list of additional campus consolidations, which didn’t have enough board support in smaller meetings held in recent weeks, was dropped and will not be proposed, Davis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other aspects include considering centralizing contracts with some service manufacturers, like those that provide copiers, at school sites, which are currently done on a school-by-school basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How individual schools contract with community agencies could also be centralized, which Davis said has received pushback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the one which is more controversial because don’t you want schools to have autonomy to decide which community agencies to contract with rather than it all be centralized?” Davis said. “But, you know, there’s trade-offs either way, and so I think in terms of efficiency, that’s what this is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12013684 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/ShengThaoPamelaPrice-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schools’ discretionary funding from the district could also be impacted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What will happen once a new board takes office in January, though, is unknown. In January 2023, then-president Mike Hutchinson, who is still on the board, reversed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11937906/oakland-school-board-halts-controversial-closure-plan-sparing-5-elementary-schools\">controversial plan to close 11 schools\u003c/a>. The district ended up only closing two, merging one and eliminating middle-school grades at another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis and Board Director Clifford Thompson were the only members who voted against the reversal. Thompson, who was up for reelection this year, is looking likely to hang on to his seat \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/elections/results/alameda/school#oakland-school-director-district-7\">in initial ballot returns\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three new board members will begin terms in January, though. Davis said he feels confident that the new board members seem invested in the city and district, but he knows that Rachel Latta, who will fill his seat, is skeptical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis worries the plan Johnson-Trammell will propose to the board on Wednesday won’t do enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said that in a letter to the board on Thursday, Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro warned that while the district’s current budget was approved, the district was headed for a “fiscal cliff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we look forward, it is almost inevitable that the District will face a ‘lack of going concern’ or ‘negative certification’ without major and prompt action,” the letter reads. “These designations would lead to [the Alameda County Office of Education] reluctantly implementing additional fiscal interventions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The five pairs of Oakland public schools that would merge are all already co-located on the same campuses. The move comes as the district faces a major budget crisis.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Facing a major budget crisis, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> plans to merge 10 co-located public schools next August rather than close any campuses, district leaders said Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While OUSD’s staff initially created a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12011731/oakland-school-closures-are-back-on-the-table-less-than-2-years-after-plan-was-axed\">larger list of schools to consolidate\u003c/a> in addition to the co-located campuses, a majority of the school board did not support the plan, according to outgoing president Sam Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mergers are one part of the district’s plan to reduce costs to close a $174 million budget deficit. OUSD is on the brink of regaining total local control after a state takeover in 2003, but fiscal uncertainty threatens to thwart that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The schools the district plans to merge are:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>International Community School and Think College Now Elementary School\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Manzanita Community School and Manzanita SEED Elementary School\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>United for Success Academy and Life Academy\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Acorn Woodland Elementary and EnCompass Academy\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Esperanza Elementary School\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Superintendent Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell said in an email to families that the mergers would create schools that better serve students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These changes will allow us to combine resources and staff to create stronger educational programs where our students are now,” the message reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis, a first-term board member who did not run for reelection, said he’s worried that without more closures now, the district could end up under the control of Alameda County — and those closures could come anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very clear what we need to do to become more sustainable,” he told KQED. “And it’s not clear right now what our board’s plan is to get there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12013790\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12013790\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/019_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Flowers grow in a garden in the schoolyard at International Community School in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These mergers are part of the district’s fiscal stabilization plan. A list of additional campus consolidations, which didn’t have enough board support in smaller meetings held in recent weeks, was dropped and will not be proposed, Davis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other aspects include considering centralizing contracts with some service manufacturers, like those that provide copiers, at school sites, which are currently done on a school-by-school basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How individual schools contract with community agencies could also be centralized, which Davis said has received pushback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the one which is more controversial because don’t you want schools to have autonomy to decide which community agencies to contract with rather than it all be centralized?” Davis said. “But, you know, there’s trade-offs either way, and so I think in terms of efficiency, that’s what this is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schools’ discretionary funding from the district could also be impacted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What will happen once a new board takes office in January, though, is unknown. In January 2023, then-president Mike Hutchinson, who is still on the board, reversed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11937906/oakland-school-board-halts-controversial-closure-plan-sparing-5-elementary-schools\">controversial plan to close 11 schools\u003c/a>. The district ended up only closing two, merging one and eliminating middle-school grades at another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis and Board Director Clifford Thompson were the only members who voted against the reversal. Thompson, who was up for reelection this year, is looking likely to hang on to his seat \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/elections/results/alameda/school#oakland-school-director-district-7\">in initial ballot returns\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three new board members will begin terms in January, though. Davis said he feels confident that the new board members seem invested in the city and district, but he knows that Rachel Latta, who will fill his seat, is skeptical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis worries the plan Johnson-Trammell will propose to the board on Wednesday won’t do enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said that in a letter to the board on Thursday, Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro warned that while the district’s current budget was approved, the district was headed for a “fiscal cliff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we look forward, it is almost inevitable that the District will face a ‘lack of going concern’ or ‘negative certification’ without major and prompt action,” the letter reads. “These designations would lead to [the Alameda County Office of Education] reluctantly implementing additional fiscal interventions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Oakland School Closures Are Back on the Table, Less Than 2 Years After Plan Was Axed",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 11 a.m. Thursday\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> could soon consider a list of schools to close or merge, less than two years after a controversial plan to do so was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11937906/oakland-school-board-halts-controversial-closure-plan-sparing-5-elementary-schools\">overturned by the school board\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School board president Sam Davis said he expects board members to be briefed next week on the superintendent’s proposal to close the district’s $174 million budget deficit, which could include plans to close or merge school sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like in San Francisco, where a similar plan to shutter schools \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12011347/sf-schools-wont-close-yet-but-the-city-still-has-questions-about-huge-budget-cuts\">was recently paused\u003c/a>, Oakland has grappled with declining public school enrollment, leading to less funds for the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our only option is to cut costs, and so this is part of a very big package and the goal is not to strip every school of all the resources and shutter a whole bunch,” Davis said. “It’s about having better-resourced campuses, but in order to have better-resourced campuses and not be spread too thin, we have to have fewer of them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A first reading of “recommended school changes” is expected on Nov. 13, and a vote on the list could come as soon as Dec. 11, Davis said in last week’s Board of Education meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all of the district directors believe a closure list will make it to the board. Director Mike Hutchinson said he was confident that Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell would not bring forward a plan this year that includes school consolidations, apart from the possible mergers of five pairs of schools that already share campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anything beyond that should not be coming forward,” he told KQED. “We have not done the work as a district yet to produce any plans further than that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD spokesperson John Sasaki said district staffers plan to bring several cost reduction options to the board in November, which will likely include plans to decrease the number of school sites. The specifics are still being decided, he said. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Almost 85% of our funds go to pay teachers, school staff, and all support staff across the district,” Sasaki said via email. “Because so much of the budget is dedicated to people, there are limited other options for closing the gap, which is one reason this situation is so challenging.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The possibility of closing schools isn’t new for Oakland Unified. In 2021, a plan to close 11 campuses \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11905982/how-dare-you-oakland-school-closure-decision-inspires-new-opposition-efforts\">spurred a hunger strike\u003c/a> and led to outrage from many parents and educators, who believed it would have disproportionately affected low-income and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11942006/reversal-of-oakland-school-closures-renews-hope-of-reparations-for-black-students\">underrepresented student\u003c/a>s. The plan was approved in February 2022 but overturned by a newly elected school board — led by then-President Hutchinson — in January 2023. Davis and Board Director Clifford Thompson voted against rescinding the closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district ended up closing two schools, merging one and eliminating middle-school grades at another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD’s budget challenges are also ongoing. The district was taken over by the state in 2003, though it is expected to regain full local control in two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District officials have said it needs to “reduce its footprint” because it has far fewer students than it used to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enrollment has been declining in Oakland schools since 2002 when the district had more than 50,000 students. It now has just over 34,000, and earlier this month, the district projected it could lose 20% of its students between 2022 and 2032.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12007326 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/240827-OUSD-LEAD-FOLO-MD-03-KQED.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, the board approved a budget-balancing resolution, which called for the development of possible cuts as well as “restructuring schools” in alignment with a new state law that requires districts facing financial challenges to perform an equity impact analysis before proposing any possible closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis said this analysis was requested by the board in June and is still underway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The very first time it was on our agenda was actually my first meeting as president [at the start of the year],” he told KQED. “It’s been something we’ve been talking about all year long.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district currently has 77 school sites. Though an analysis geared only toward efficiency suggested the district should only operate 46, Davis said the true number that OUSD should maintain, considering equity and other factors, likely falls somewhere in the middle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Addressing the budget this year and reducing the number of schools OUSD operates could allow the board to focus more on curriculum and other educational advancements, Davis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a board member, I feel like our board meetings are budget, budget, budget, austerity, austerity, austerity,” he said. “At some point, that’s not what any of us got elected to [and] want to do. We want to be able to talk about the future and planning for the future and student outcomes and instructional strategies. Until we get past this, we’re not going to be able to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">Sara Hossaini\u003c/a> contributed to this report\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 11 a.m. Thursday\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> could soon consider a list of schools to close or merge, less than two years after a controversial plan to do so was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11937906/oakland-school-board-halts-controversial-closure-plan-sparing-5-elementary-schools\">overturned by the school board\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School board president Sam Davis said he expects board members to be briefed next week on the superintendent’s proposal to close the district’s $174 million budget deficit, which could include plans to close or merge school sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like in San Francisco, where a similar plan to shutter schools \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12011347/sf-schools-wont-close-yet-but-the-city-still-has-questions-about-huge-budget-cuts\">was recently paused\u003c/a>, Oakland has grappled with declining public school enrollment, leading to less funds for the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our only option is to cut costs, and so this is part of a very big package and the goal is not to strip every school of all the resources and shutter a whole bunch,” Davis said. “It’s about having better-resourced campuses, but in order to have better-resourced campuses and not be spread too thin, we have to have fewer of them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A first reading of “recommended school changes” is expected on Nov. 13, and a vote on the list could come as soon as Dec. 11, Davis said in last week’s Board of Education meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all of the district directors believe a closure list will make it to the board. Director Mike Hutchinson said he was confident that Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell would not bring forward a plan this year that includes school consolidations, apart from the possible mergers of five pairs of schools that already share campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anything beyond that should not be coming forward,” he told KQED. “We have not done the work as a district yet to produce any plans further than that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD spokesperson John Sasaki said district staffers plan to bring several cost reduction options to the board in November, which will likely include plans to decrease the number of school sites. The specifics are still being decided, he said. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Almost 85% of our funds go to pay teachers, school staff, and all support staff across the district,” Sasaki said via email. “Because so much of the budget is dedicated to people, there are limited other options for closing the gap, which is one reason this situation is so challenging.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The possibility of closing schools isn’t new for Oakland Unified. In 2021, a plan to close 11 campuses \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11905982/how-dare-you-oakland-school-closure-decision-inspires-new-opposition-efforts\">spurred a hunger strike\u003c/a> and led to outrage from many parents and educators, who believed it would have disproportionately affected low-income and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11942006/reversal-of-oakland-school-closures-renews-hope-of-reparations-for-black-students\">underrepresented student\u003c/a>s. The plan was approved in February 2022 but overturned by a newly elected school board — led by then-President Hutchinson — in January 2023. Davis and Board Director Clifford Thompson voted against rescinding the closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district ended up closing two schools, merging one and eliminating middle-school grades at another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD’s budget challenges are also ongoing. The district was taken over by the state in 2003, though it is expected to regain full local control in two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District officials have said it needs to “reduce its footprint” because it has far fewer students than it used to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enrollment has been declining in Oakland schools since 2002 when the district had more than 50,000 students. It now has just over 34,000, and earlier this month, the district projected it could lose 20% of its students between 2022 and 2032.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, the board approved a budget-balancing resolution, which called for the development of possible cuts as well as “restructuring schools” in alignment with a new state law that requires districts facing financial challenges to perform an equity impact analysis before proposing any possible closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Davis said this analysis was requested by the board in June and is still underway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The very first time it was on our agenda was actually my first meeting as president [at the start of the year],” he told KQED. “It’s been something we’ve been talking about all year long.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district currently has 77 school sites. Though an analysis geared only toward efficiency suggested the district should only operate 46, Davis said the true number that OUSD should maintain, considering equity and other factors, likely falls somewhere in the middle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Addressing the budget this year and reducing the number of schools OUSD operates could allow the board to focus more on curriculum and other educational advancements, Davis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a board member, I feel like our board meetings are budget, budget, budget, austerity, austerity, austerity,” he said. “At some point, that’s not what any of us got elected to [and] want to do. We want to be able to talk about the future and planning for the future and student outcomes and instructional strategies. Until we get past this, we’re not going to be able to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">Sara Hossaini\u003c/a> contributed to this report\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"soldout": {
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"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
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