After facing a more than $100 million budget deficit and months of financial uncertainty, the Oakland Unified School District has approved a tentative budget for next school year.

District leaders said they’ve cut the deficit down to a $30 million structural deficit while still projecting a nearly $8 million balance. Those numbers have left some board members and the public confused.

“It’s impossible to have a deficit and a surplus at the same time,” school board member Mike Hutchinson said during a school board meeting Wednesday.

Jennifer Brouhard, president of the school board, said the district is taking a new approach by prioritizing using its reserve funds. The board still has to identify $30 million in cuts, though that figure could drop depending on the state budget.

“We do have the $7.9 million in our balance and we’ve also met our state requirement for our reserves and our adopted board requirement, which is higher, and we are also able to make all our payroll,” Brouhard said.

The Alameda County superintendent recently raised concerns about the district’s fiscal stability. The Oakland NAACP and other community members are calling for more transparency, saying without a clear plan, future budget cuts could impact students.

“We know that there are financial ways – taking from Paul to pay Peter and getting through the moment – but what we’re asking, one, clear numbers and that there be a sustainability plan,” NAACP spokesperson and former school board member Jorge Lerma said. “We want to know what comes after this.”

Brouhard said the tentative budget includes the $32 million increase for teachers’ contracts approved to avert a strike. She said the district worked with an independent auditor on the numbers and agreed more transparency is needed.

The school board returns in August, at which time members will look to identify the numbers to cut.

“The figures are there, the money is there,” Brouhard said. “To have a budget that’s balanced for the first time in 22 years is something that we should be celebrating, and it’s a budget that kept us out of receivership.”