This story was updated at 3:35 p.m.

Twenty minutes before midnight, the Oakland Unified School District board granted interim superintendent Denise Saddler a raise, an extension, and a title change. 

Saddler has led OUSD as interim superintendent since last July, and during her one-year term, the board approved a contract to search for a permanent superintendent. That work never began, board president Jennifer Brouhard previously told The Oaklandside, because balancing the budget took priority. At Wednesday’s school board meeting, the board approved another one-year contract for Saddler that will run from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027.

The board also gave Saddler a $10,700 raise, which will bring her salary to $367,765.45 for one year, and upgraded her title from interim superintendent to superintendent. Directors Mike Hutchinson and Patrice Berry voted against the new contract, while the other directors voted yes.

Berry, who represents District 5, proposed bringing the contract back to a later meeting to allow more engagement with the public.

“The shift from interim superintendent to superintendent is something we have to take seriously because of what it communicates to the public,” Berry said. “I think it undermines the commitment we made this time last year about the process.”

Board directors didn’t address how the search for a superintendent to succeed her would be conducted or when it would begin.

Oakland school board directors Mike Hutchinson, Rachel Latta, VanCedric Williams, Patrice Berry, and Valarie Bachelor during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School on Feb. 12, 2025. Credit: Florence Middleton for The Oaklandside

$148 million in new labor costs

Saddler took the reins of OUSD as the district was leaving state receivership. During her tenure, she’s been tasked with closing a $102 million deficit. Her chief of staff and chief business officer left their roles in December over disagreements about the path forward.

The same month, OUSD reached an agreement with its school support staff and created a $25-an-hour wage floor. Two months later in February, the district settled a contract with the Oakland Education Association, narrowly avoiding what would have been the third open-ended strike since 2019. 

In Wednesday’s budget report, district staff detailed for the first time the estimated costs of the teachers’ new contract — around $108 million over three years. That includes about $13 million in the 2025-2026 school year, $33 million in 2026-2027, and $62 million in the 2027-2028 school year. 

That’s on top of the costs associated with the district’s agreement with SEIU Local 1021, the union that represents OUSD’s support staff, which is projected to cost $40 million over three years, including $9.9 million this school year and $13.6 million during the next school year.

Tara Gard, OUSD’s former chief of talent who last month became deputy superintendent of business and operations, presented the report alongside Ruben Frutos, a paid consultant with Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates, and Ryan Nguyen, OUSD’s chief financial officer. 

They said the district’s fiscal solvency plan will now focus on aligning staff with enrollment; containing costs, particularly related to special education and the central office; improving enrollment and attendance; and remaining disciplined about cash flow. 

“We’re in a place that is difficult and nobody has said anything other than that,” Gard said. “We’re on the edge and we’ve been working hard to make sure that this district remains solvent.”

Nguyen added that the district is not projecting insolvency, as long as it continues to implement that solvency plan. 

State denies OUSD appeal

On April 16, Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro issued a notice of concern regarding the district budget, citing OUSD’s incomplete fiscal picture, and its leaders’ pattern of not following through on financial decisions and reaching agreements that raise costs without determining how they’ll be paid for. The notice required OUSD to submit additional financial reports by the end of April, including budget projections, cash balances, and labor agreements, which the district has done.

On May 4, Saddler, Gard, and OUSD’s general counsel Jenine Lindsey submitted an appeal to the state, challenging the notice. That appeal was brought to the board on Wednesday for ratification, whereLindsey said it argues the county should evaluate the additional documents and consider retracting the notice of concern. The board voted for ratification, with directors Hutchinson and Berry voting in opposition.

On Thursday, the state denied that appeal, noting that districts must file an appeal within five days of the notice of concern.

At the board meeting, Hutchinson, who represents District 4 and is often at odds with the school board majority and critical of district leadership, called attention to the discrepancies between the financial reports OUSD had submitted to the county and what was presented Wednesday night. In the report to the county, projections show OUSD ending the fiscal year in June 2027 with a cash balance of $16 million. In Wednesday’s budget report, the projections show an ending cash balance of $150 million to $180 million on that date. 

Frutos, the consultant, said the budget projection numbers they presented are the latest ones obtained from the district’s financial system. Frutos also noted that projections will fluctuate as the governor’s revised budget comes out and the state decides whether to allocate or delay Prop 98 funding. If the state appropriates Prop 98 funds immediately, OUSD could receive around $27 million next year.

In 2021, the school board appealed a going concern notice issued by then-Superintendent L.K. Monroe. The state department of education denied the appeal. 

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