The plan they came up with relies heavily on shifting spending from OUSD\u2019s unrestricted base fund \u2014 where the deficit is \u2014 to restricted resources, which typically have earmarked uses or are spent on targeted student groups. That will also mean finding new funding sources to cover expenses that were previously paid for out of the restricted budget, or cutting them altogether.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ruben Frutos, one of the fiscal advisors, explained Wednesday that the strategy is to tap out restricted resources first, before spending elsewhere. The district receives more than $100 million in supplemental and concentration funding<\/a> \u2014 state dollars that are intended to support English learners, foster youth, and low-income students. About 82% of OUSD students fall into these categories.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no new funding, these are the same budgetary numbers we had, but we are shifting some of the funds in order to protect the unrestricted portion of the budget,\u201d Frutos told the board.\u00a0<\/p>\n By shifting these expenses, the consultants managed to reduce next year\u2019s general fund deficit to around $50 million.\u00a0 But the restructuring means next year\u2019s supplemental and concentration funds \u2014 which pay for everything from assistant principals to elective teachers, newcomer teachers, attendance specialists, noon supervisors, case managers, and community school managers \u2014 could be cut by $55 million.<\/p>\n Some community members are concerned that this approach risks eliminating resources for the district\u2019s most vulnerable students. \u201cI am worried that in order to actually right the ship here, that we\u2019re going to have to significantly reduce the services that we\u2019re providing to our highest need students in our highest need schools,\u201d Matt Glaser, a parent at Peralta Elementary, told The Oaklandside.\u00a0<\/p>\n In December, the district was projected to have end-of-year reserves of around $19 million, below the state-mandated 2% of the general fund, and below the district\u2019s self-imposed mandate of 3%. This predicament meant the district was at risk of state intervention again, months after exiting receivership, and had little room to offer raises to workers.<\/p>\n The board\u2019s directive to the superintendent and her staff was to come up with a plan that did not require closing or merging schools, reduced reliance on contracts, and kept cuts primarily at the district\u2019s central office headquarters instead of school sites. But there\u2019s no way to cut tens of millions of dollars from the budget without impacting students, interim superintendent Denise Saddler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCuts at the central office will have real impact on the experience at schools,\u201d Saddler said at the meeting. \u201cFewer people to process contracts, slower response times for facilities requests, reduced capacity for recruitment and hiring support, less communication support for school websites and family engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n Since hiring the fiscal advisors, the district has recovered about $16 million from this year\u2019s budget to build its reserves above the required 3%, and now OUSD is projected to end the year with about $35 million in its coffers. Those savings were found by cutting unspent money from the central office and school sites, which reduced central office staffing by 53 employees. The district also shifted custodial, noon supervisors, and attendance specialists to restricted funds, freeing up $18 million in general funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n For next year, the plan is still to implement a total of $102 million in reductions, Frutos said, though the details are still being fleshed out.<\/p>\n None of the cuts will be simple. Reducing the district\u2019s special education budget is tricky because of federal \u201cmaintenance of effort\u201d regulations that require districts to spend the same amount year over year, Frutos said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Plans to reduce the deferred maintenance budget at time when the district has major facilities needs is also a challenge, Valarie Bachelor, chair of the board\u2019s facilities committee, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI see every single day the needs of our school sites regarding facilities,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to make reductions to deferred maintenance. I want to encourage us to think about every single reductions we\u2019re seeing today and the impact each of these reductions is going to have.\u201d<\/p>\n School principals objected to other proposed changes, saying they can\u2019t afford to lose support staff from their schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHigh-quality schools don\u2019t happen on accident or on endurance alone,\u201d said Swaicha Chanduri, the principal of Joaquin Miller Elementary. \u201cNone of this happens without adequate planning time, support staff, updated materials and technology and opportunities for educators to collaborate as professionals. Just as teachers cannot provide differentiated instruction without time to plan and analyze student work, principals cannot effectively leave schools and instruction without essential staffing.\u201d<\/p>\n OUSD attendance is at 91.8% so far this year, up from 90.5% last year. The district\u2019s goal is to raise attendance by 2 percentage points by the end of the year, which would bring in another $10 million in general fund revenue through the state\u2019s funding formula. But as negotiations stall, the prospect of a teachers strike could upend that goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Feb. 11, the board will further discuss budget strategies before voting on Feb. 25. By March 15, the district must give notice to staff who won\u2019t be returning next year. Tara Gard, the district\u2019s chief of talent, said OUSD will help to find work for those individuals elsewhere, such as with neighboring districts or with the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n Parents start dissecting the budget<\/p>\n Some parents say they want to see the board fundamentally overhaul the budget and district operations, instead of moving money around, to get to a sustainable place. And they\u2019re encouraging more families to get involved with budget advocacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Glaser, the Peralta parent, chairs his school site council, the bodies that guide some school-specific spending. He also serves on the district\u2019s Parent and Student Advisory Committee<\/a>, which makes recommendations to OUSD on its Local Control Accountability Plan, a three-year plan every district submits to the state to outline how it will improve student outcomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Glaser put together a budget framework<\/a> document to help parents understand the district\u2019s predicament and engage in budget conversations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single person who tries to get involved with budget discussions, every single parent, including myself, is overwhelmed by the amount of information that is out there,\u201d Glaser told The Oaklandside. \u201cNobody knows what\u2019s accurate, what sources to trust, stuff is outdated. There\u2019s also so many different parts of the budget that it becomes overwhelming and people tend to check out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n His document explores eight areas<\/a> and how they relate to the budget: special education, school closures, charter schools, facilities, the central office, enrollment, academics, and student services.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe point is to get people to dig into specific areas and decide this is going to be their specialty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Other members of the Parent Student Advisory Committee have also expressed their concerns<\/a> about the budget plan, with its vague commitments to protecting classrooms over everything else, and worry that cuts to enrollment and custodial staffing could cause more families to leave the district, compounding its problems.\u00a0<\/p>\n Arielle Fleisher, a parent at Crocker Highlands Elementary, helped create another analysis<\/a> of the budget, a second independent effort to provide a resource for parents struggling to wrap their heads around the district\u2019s budget woes.\u00a0<\/p>\n The guide challenges assumptions around central office costs, contract spending, and school consolidations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to get parents to understand the complexity,\u201d Fleisher told The Oaklandside. \u201cTo have them feel empowered, to engage, and not to tune out.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The group that worked on it, which Fleisher said is made up of about 20 to 30 parents from schools across the city, wants the board and district leadership to lay out their big picture vision for schools and students instead of responding to budget crises every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re always budgeting from a place of crisis and we\u2019re never budgeting from a place of our values,\u201d Fleisher said. \u201cI have no idea what the board\u2019s vision for schools are. I want to budget towards outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n Kim Ayers, the parent of a transitional kindergarten student at Laurel Elementary, echoed this view.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to see a multiyear plan that brings us to financial stability and sustainability,\u201d she told The Oaklandside. \u201cSo all of us, families and educators, can get back to actually focusing on kids and their learning, which is the real crisis I wish we were talking about. Instead of being focused on whether we\u2019re going to be able to pay our bills next month.\u201d<\/p>\n Without a vision, Ayers said, budget decisions can have unintended consequences \u2014 such as last year\u2019s decision to cut contracts that almost defunded after school programs<\/a>. She said the chaos that produced was her first introduction to OUSD as a parent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Teachers union seeks a 14% raise<\/p>\n Negotiations between the Oakland Education Association, which represents the district\u2019s teachers, and OUSD have been at an impasse since a mediation period ended in December<\/a>. If bringing in a neutral fact-finder isn\u2019t able to resolve the disputes, the district could experience the second teachers\u2019 strike in three years. Last year, a one-day strike was narrowly averted<\/a>.<\/p>\n The two sides are far apart. The union has asked for a 14% raise over two years, while the district offered a 0% increase, citing OUSD\u2019s budget constraints. The union\u2019s student-centered budget highlights outside contracts and central office management as areas to cut in order to protect budget for schools and classrooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"OUSD](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769737329_945_large-OUSD-After-School-Staff-Shortages-EBAYC.jpg\")
Students eat in the after school program at Manzanita Community School. Credit: Amir Aziz\/The Oaklandside
\n$16 million recovered from this year\u2019s budget<\/p>\n![\"First](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/large-First-Day-of-School-2023.jpg\")
Students walk to class on the first day of school at Bella Vista Elementary School. Credit: Carla Hern\u00e1ndez Ram\u00edrez<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_0664-1600x1200.jpg\")
Staff and supporters of after-school programs in Oakland rally ahead of a school board meeting to urge district leaders to rescind program cuts on May 21, 2025. Credit: Ashley McBride\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_2747-1600x1200.jpg\")
Oakland Education Association members and their supporters file into the OUSD school board meeting on Jan. 28, 2026. Credit: Ashley McBride\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n