An Oakland school board member broke his silence after a teachers\u2019 union pressured the broke California city to pay huge teacher salaries, saying there\u2019s \u201cno way we can pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, Oakland Unified School District and its teachers reached a tentative contract agreement to avoid a strike<\/a>, but now OUSD board director Mike Hutchinson said the massive offer should\u2019ve never been made.<\/p>\n The district is already facing a $100 million deficit and Hutchinson said the current pay hike to give teachers an increase of between 11% and 13% from now until June 2027 will put the school district in a deeper financial hole.<\/p>\n OUSD board director Mike Hutchinson said there is no way the district can afford pay increases for teachers.<\/p>\n \u201cThis grows our deficit to an amount that we\u2019ve never seen before in OUSD,\u201c Hutchinson told KRON4 News<\/a>. \u201cThis tentative agreement would add roughly $50 million to next year\u2019s deficit.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week, the board agreed to send out layoff notices to some 400 employees including teachers<\/a>, but Hutchinson argues these job cuts won\u2019t even fill the financial hole they are already in before the pay raises.<\/p>\n \u201cI know there\u2019s no way for us to be able to pay for it, so the offer should have never been passed,\u201d Hutchinson said.<\/p>\n A recent report found the district lost $9.4 million in state funding in the 2024\u201325 fiscal year due to declining enrollment and warned it is teetering near insolvency, The Post reported.<\/p>\n The teachers\u2019 union and the school board must still ratify the contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n OUSD Board Director Mike Hutchinson.<\/p>\n The California Post reached out to the California Teachers Association and the Oakland Unified School District for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Districts across the state have been feeling pressure to cut positions and massively reduce their deficits.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last month, the Los Angeles Unified School District<\/a> board voted to send out preliminary layoff notices to hundreds of employees as it faces a deficit of nearly $200 million \u2014 driven by huge salaries and plummeting enrollment<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe California Post is here. Sign up for Morning Report.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the perfect blend of news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Oakland school board member Hutchinson said the teacher pay increases should\u2019ve never been approved.<\/p>\n A whopping 90% of LAUSD\u2019s $18.8 billion budget is spent on workers, with incoming teachers earning around $70,000 per year and many earning well into six figures, The Post reported.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, student numbers across the region have depleted by 13,500 to 389,000 over the last academic year \u2014 the highest rate in the country.<\/p>\n Sacramento City Unified School District is also facing the squeeze, with its board recently voting<\/a> to eliminate 400 jobs including teacher positions, as the district faces a $113 million deficit by the end of the school year.<\/p>\n Fresno Unified School District<\/a> board recently voted to lay off some 400 employees to cut into its $77 million deficit in a district that\u2019s lost 1,000<\/a> students every year since the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/p>\n California Post News: Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, X<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, WhatsApp<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t
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