OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — Emotions were running high Wednesday at the Oakland Unified School District’s board meeting. The OUSD board was divided over whether to eliminate hundreds of jobs for the next school year.
Those cuts come as the district faces a budget deficit of $100 million.
“This is the worst crisis OUSD has ever faced. Period,” said Mike Hutchinson.
School board member Hutchinson has been a vocal critic of many of the board’s decisions.
RELATED: Oakland teachers, school district resume labor talks; OUSD posts proposed $102M budget cuts
He and some of his colleagues believe they’ve delayed dealing with the district’s financial issues for months, leaving them to now make last minute choices.
“We don’t even know what’s possible yet. We never did the work to see what are our options,” said Hutchinson.
“These are big questions. And I don’t have any of the answers. And I have issue with that,” said school board member Patrice Berry.
During the meeting both staff and members of the public expressed frustration.
Cary Kaufman is the president of United Administrators of Oakland Schools. He thinks the district is in an impossible situation.
RELATED: Oakland teachers prepare for strike over pay, wanting smaller class size; though, no start date set
“I am very concerned about the proposed cuts, and I am extremely concerned about no cuts happening tonight and us losing local control and having the state or the county step in,” said Kaufman.
In addition to the job cuts, the district is also looking for ways to trim the deficit — suggesting early retirement incentives and other ideas.
“What we were doing did not work, so we have to make something different, and we have to make those tough decisions,” said school board member Valarie Bachelor.
And while everyone will feel some amount of pain, many say it’s the district’s students who will be impacted the most.
“It doesn’t really represent responsible action. Neither does anything that we’ve seen here. I feel like we’ve been failed by everyone,” said Hutchinson.
If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live
Copyright © 2026 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.