Oakland Unified School District

Oakland Unified School District has experienced ongoing financial difficulties in recent years. A 2018 Alameda County Civil Grand Jury report noted that the District had been "in financial peril" for the prior 15 years, with an average $20 million to $30 million in debt each year, due to budgetary errors and out-of-control spending. Enrollment had dropped from 54,000 to 37,000 students, resulting in decreased state funding, but the district had opened more schools (Rudsdale Newcomer School, which serves immigrants, and the School of Language, a bilingual middle school[29]), rather than closing them in response to declining enrollment, the report found. The report also criticized "system-wide failures" including "no accountability, lack of trust, and high teacher and administration turnover."[30]

Another Alameda County Civil Grand Jury Report published a year later that financial instability was due to "the district’s poor business practices and broken culture," rather than just outside pressures like declining enrollment. The report found that although the District ranked sixth in per-pupil state funding out of 37 Bay Area school districts, it had far above average spending on non-teaching costs and consultants, and lower than average spending on teachers and special education.[31] Spending for supervisor and administrator salaries was found to be more than six times the statewide average.[32] Under Superintendent Antwan Wilson, the report said, millions of dollars were wasted as capital projects were halted in the planning stages, and $172 million was spent on new construction projects, leaving the district's finances "in shambles."[31][32] The Board of Education responded that the new Blueprint for Quality Schools, the Citywide Plan, and the Plan for Fiscal Vitality, released between the Grand Jury's investigation and the publication of its report, had already addressed some of the Grand Jury's recommendations. The Board of Education also disagreed or partially disagreed with many of the report's findings.[31][33]

Oakland Unified teachers went on strike for seven days, beginning on February 21, 2019, for fully funded public education, higher wages, and smaller class size. The strikes were part of the RedforEd campaign and were organized by the Oakland Education Association (OEA)--a union for teachers—and East Bay Democratic Socialists of America (EBDSA). Oakland Unified School District is under populated with a total of 87 public schools, so they have a plan to close some public, unionized (and predominantly low-income) schools over the next few years in order to save money. $57 million meant for public-sector schools is funneled to the private-sector charter schools a year.[34]

Leading up to the strike there was a meeting with the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education in which the community of Roots Academy, a school facing closure, testified a plea to keep their school open. Teachers gathered at the #RedforEd rally January 12, demonstrating that they are strike-ready. In show of solidarity, ten non-union charter schools “engaged in a wildcat sympathy strike”.[35] Rallies continued as teachers from all around the Bay Area took a sick day on January 18, 2019, and gathered at Oakland Technical High School to march to city hall in the name of public education. In an interview at the “sickout”, an Oakland teacher said “We have not had a contract for several years….The district is currently offering a 5% raise amounting to $70 extra which is not enough to keep up with the rising cost of housing in Oakland.”[36] 1 in 5 teachers leave Oakland Unified School District because they cannot afford to teach in the city they live in.[37] When asked if they had enough resources to succeed, three Oakland Tech students replied “No, we don’t even have paper in some of the class rooms. Some kids do not have textbooks and they have to do their work at home, where they may not have internet. Our classes are overfilled. Sometimes students will try to print their work in the library but there will be no paper if there is no librarian. We did not have a librarian this whole school year until last week.”.[32] Bread for Ed raised more than $175,000 to feed children and families out of school, because “73 percent of [Oakland] students depend on free or reduced lunch from their school”.[38]

The teachers struck for seven days. “97% of students were out of school, and tens of thousands were on the picket lines”, according to Oakland Education Association. On February 28, 2019, OUSD “reached a tentative agreement” with OEA.[39] On Sunday, March 3, Oakland Education Association teachers voted to authorize a new contract to implement an 11 percent increase in teachers’ salary for the next four years, plus a 3 percent bonus to account for losses during the strike.[40] The agreement also demands to decrease class size, hold off school closures for five months, and have the district vote on whether or not to push the state for a moratorium of charter schools.[40] Not all of the demands were granted, but the Oakland teacher strikes empowered the community to face the billionaire-backed operation to privatize education.

In 2012, voters passed Measure J, a $475 million school facilities bond.[41] The 2018–19 Alameda County Civil Grand Jury report found that mismanagement led to delays in the 21 projects that were to be funded with Measure J, and in 2018, nine of those projects were paused due to budget overruns and the district running out of funds.[29] As of the publication of the Grand Jury report, $12.5 million of bond money had been spent over the prior four years on rented office space for central offices at 1000 Broadway following a flood in the administration building in 2014, despite questions about the legality of this practice.[32]

In November 2020, Measure Y will ask voters whether to issue $735 million in additional bonds.[42] If passed, the bonds will fund more than 20 projects, including upgrading and expanding seven schools, safety improvements, and converting a closed school to a new alternative education and administrative building, but are only one fifth of the district's calculated financial need for construction projects.[43]

In May 2023, teachers went on strike again citing pay and social issues as the reasons. [44] On May 15, the union (Oakland Education Association) announced they had reached a deal with the district.[45]

In 2015, Montclair Elementary was recognized with the nation's highest honor for a K-12 school, the Blue Ribbon award, which recognizes "exemplary teaching and learning". Only 10 schools in the Bay Area, public or private, received the award that year.

Nearly half the students (47 percent) who attend Montclair come from outside the neighborhood. The East Bay Times reported, "One of the school's secrets to success is what (Principal Nancy) Bloom calls the morning intervention acceleration model. Used in the kindergarten, first and second grades, children meet once a week in groups with no more than four or five students and get targeted instruction that meets their individual needs. On the other days, the students are outside doing physical education."[46]

The school serves an increasing number of English language learner students and students who receive free and reduced-price meals.[47]

In 2016, Collaborative for High Performance Schools praised Montclair Elementary's energy efficient design.[48]

In 2015, Coliseum College Prep Academy (CCPA), located on the Havenscourt Campus in East Oakland, achieved a 91 percent graduation rate. The school serves about 450 students and a large percentage are English language learners (170 students in 2014-15).[49] CCPA's ethnic breakdown for the 2013–14 school year consisted of 42.7% Hispanic or Latino students, 28% Black or African American students, 13.2% Asian students, 9.8% White students, 2.6% students of two or more races, and 1.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.[50]