#oakland-unified

#oakland-unified

The protracted talks means that families of 390,000 students still must scramble to make contingency plans for their children Tuesday - and some 70,000 workers, including teachers and school principals, don't know if they will be at work or on a picket line.

Spinrad believes that people are eager for face-to-face conversation, especially if prompted by a specific topic. He created a prototype of a 'Conference Calendar' to facilitate this.

The new contract covers July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2028, and was ratified by 99% of voting union members on March 23. The agreement includes a 3% retroactive raise for this school year, a 4% increase for next school year, and a one-time bonus of $600 to $1,000.

This contract reflects a newfound commitment by the OUSD superintendent and school board to prioritize resources toward classrooms. The agreement includes smaller caseloads for school counselors, a book allowance for teacher librarians, and improved workloads for school nurses, representing gains across multiple educator categories and support roles.

While some school districts have simple zone systems in which students are automatically enrolled in their neighborhood school, Oakland has a choice system that allows families to apply to any school in the city. That can mean more work as families go on multiple tours and sift through information about dozens of school programs, specialties, and enrichment offerings - while trying to navigate what can feel like an opaque enrollment process.

Oakland Unified School District leaders see attendance rates as critical to their plan to address a $100 million budget gap. Increasing attendance by even 1% overall could add $5 million in revenue. That's because state funds, which make up the biggest pot of money for the district, are based on a funding formula that uses students' average daily attendance rates. Raising attendance a few percentage points could mean millions more for a district searching for a way out of its structural deficit.

But the city only committed funding through the current 2025-2026 school year, and city leaders made it clear that this was a pilot program they would support for the first few years and then hand over to the district to build into its budget or seek outside funding. That funding cliff has arrived just as OUSD navigates a serious budget deficit and needs to trim $100 million from next year's budget.

This is the worst crisis OUSD has ever faced. Period. We don't even know what's possible yet. We never did the work to see what are our options. These are big questions. And I don't have any of the answers. And I have issue with that.

Enrollment in Oakland Unified School District is on the rebound, but continued gains are uncertain as the district faces large unresolved deficits. During the first regular school board meeting of the year on Wednesday, OUSD's executive director of enrollment Kilian Betlach reported increases in transitional kindergarten enrollment, enrollment gains from charter school closures, and a collapse in enrollment by newcomer students. This year, OUSD's enrollment exceeded projections by more than 500 students, which means roughly $7 million more in state funding for the district.

Teachers have almost no authority over student behaviors or academic grading, and are given little, if any, respect from administrators, parents or even students. Instead, students have all the authority but no responsibility for their success. Students do (or don't do) whatever they wish, while empty-handed teachers are left to take the blame. Teachers no longer have the ultimate tool of flunking students.

Right now, OUSD educators are the lowest paid in the region, and as a result, the District loses nearly 400 hardworking, dedicated educators per year, costing the district $7.5 million annually, President Kampala Taiz-Rancifer said in a news release. This is a waste of resources, destabilizes classrooms, and especially hurts our most vulnerable students. Oakland educators have been in this fight for the schools our students deserve for a long timeand we remain committed to stabilizing our schools.

It's long overdue that we modernize the management of our educational system, Newsom said, and so in the budget I'll be submitting tomorrow, I'm proposing that we unify the policymaking by the State Board of Education and the Department of Education, allowing the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to align our education policies from early childhood through college. The budget's passage on this was longer, but still failed to explicitly say what Newsom had in mind.

The union last week reportedly rejected a three-year deal dubbed a "stability package," which included a 6% raise spread over three years. The union is also seeking contract language protecting undocumented students and those from mixed-status families, and a reduction in case loads for paraeducators. The union is seeking 9% raises for certified teachers, spread over two years, and 14% hikes for paraeducators.