At its first meeting of the calendar year, the Oakland Unified School District board re-elected Jennifer Brouhard and Valarie Bachelor as president and vice president for a second one-year term. They’ll be responsible for guiding the board and the district through enormous challenges this year, including a superintendent search and steep budget cuts.
Brouhard and Bachelor served in the same roles in 2025, during a period in which the board ended its contract with former Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell, selected Denise Saddler as interim superintendent, and brought the district out of receivership. In their second term, the pair will face down the prospect of losing local control as the district confronts a mounting deficit.
OUSD’s top priority is balancing its budget. In December, the board accepted an ambitious plan to raise revenues and cut spending by $100 million. The budget scenario, which lacked specific details, outlines a strategy for making those cuts, including reducing school site budgets by $32 million, or up to 10%; cutting the special education budget by $12 million; and implementing a $32 million reduction at the district’s central office. The plan also relies on increasing funding by improving attendance rates and growing enrollment in transitional kindergarten classes.
In remarks to the board, Brouhard reflected on the challenges ahead and encouraged collaboration between board directors and community members.
“The past year has brought significant change, and I’m committed to continuing that work as we navigate difficult budget adjustments, conduct a superintendent search, support our immigrant families and students, and meet the social, emotional, and educational needs of our students,” she said.
Brouhard’s presidency was supported by directors Rachel Latta, VanCedric Williams, Bachelor, and Brouhard. Directors Patrice Berry, Mike Hutchinson, and Clifford Thompson supported Hutchinson for president. Over the last year, most of the votes the board has taken have been split 4-3 along those lines.
Hutchinson and Thompson voted against Bachelor for vice president, while the rest voted for her.
“We will face challenges ahead, and there will be moments of disagreement,” Bachelor said in her remarks. “Our strengths as a board lie in our diversity of thought, lived experience and perspective. When we approach one another with respect, curiosity and shared commitment to students, I know that our differences can lead to better decisions and stronger outcomes.”
In addition to balancing its budget, the board this year is also expected to approve a facilities master plan, a comprehensive document outlining the district’s facilities needs that provides a roadmap for future investments.
At Monday’s meeting, the board approved committee assignments for the board and raised board director compensation to $3,000 per month, following a new state law, up from the current rate of $911 per month after a raise last January.
OUSD’s general counsel Jenine Lindsey clarified that board members may donate their salaries back to the district.
Senior officials departed last month
Monday’s meeting was the first since two senior administrators left the district.
Lisa Grant-Dawson, who had served as OUSD’s chief business officer since 2020, resigned in mid-December, days after the board approved the budget scenario put together by Saddler and her team. During her tenure, Grant-Dawson had played a crucial role in strengthening the district’s financial controls and helping it pass the audit that allowed OUSD to leave state receivership.
But with another round of massive budget cuts on the table, Grant-Dawson said she saw the board’s vision for fiscal sustainability diverging from what she was comfortable advising. She added that in the days leading up to the Dec. 10 meeting, she had been left out of conversations about the budget process.
“I just saw a shift in what I thought the board was going to be willing to do, as far as its operational and financial activity,” Grant-Dawson told The Oaklandside. “And so I’m not going to stay and watch this erosion happen.”
That wasn’t the first bit of tension between district staff and the school board. Last spring, the board majority voted to approve an alternative budget solution plan that when implemented, risked abruptly ending contracts with after school program providers. The board had to reverse that decision after a backlash.
In a Dec. 16 statement, Saddler said Grant-Dawson had been clear about her plans to pursue other opportunities and thanked her for her service. Saddler added that she’s bringing in a team of fiscal experts to help the district work through its budget process.
In another shakeup, the district’s chief of staff, Dan Bellino, has also separated from OUSD on what appears to be antagonistic terms. He joined the district last July when Saddler did. In a LinkedIn post, Bellino said he was grateful to have worked in OUSD but his time there “ended in a manner that is deeply concerning on a number of levels.”
“I entered into this message wanting to write a heartfelt note of encouragement and love for the staff of Oakland Unified and our students and families,” Bellino said. “But — because of the occurrences and harm done over the past two weeks — it has been too difficult to write an optimistic message in the genuinely honest way in which I walk through the world.”
In her Dec. 16 statement, Saddler announced former Oakland City Council member Lynette McElhaney as the district’s next chief of staff. McElhaney represented District 3 on the council for eight years and served as council president in 2015. McElhaney helped to create the city’s Department of Violence Prevention, home to the Ceasefire program that has been credited with drops in violent crimes in the city.
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