Community
Carol Delton Letter to Oakland School Board and Superintendent
While it was announced as Item G-1 of the 10/14/2021 Budget and Finance Committee Meeting, no documents were ever posted and, at the meeting, the Committee Chair announced the discussion would not take place and that she was receiving messages about running over time.
Dear Board Directors and Superintendent,
I am deeply concerned about the proposal to cut $2 million from the 2022-23 budget in supposed lieu of another Blueprint Cohort, and even more deeply concerned about the process that has had ZERO public exposure and ZERO committee discussion before it comes to the Board for a vote.
While it was announced as Item G-1 of the 10/14/2021 Budget and Finance Committee Meeting, no documents were ever posted and, at the meeting, the Committee Chair announced the discussion would not take place and that she was receiving messages about running over time.
I will first address the $2 million figure, why I question it, and why you should, too. During the 5/12/2021 Board meeting, staff provided an update, including financial analysis, of the Cohort 1 and 2 school changes.
Attachment 2-Financial Impact Summary to Resolution 2021-0128 showed that when facilities costs were taken into consideration, the changes actually cost the district an aggregate $700, 896.33– without the facilities changes, the reduction in expenditures would have been $619,454.24. However, these numbers did not take into account the students who left OUSD altogether after a closure/merger. In the presentation, a slide documenting the use of the Opportunity Ticket also included these numbers: 14 students from Roots (9%), 37 students from Kaiser (17%) and 14 students from SOL (15%), left OUSD.
Without counting the loss of siblings to OUSD enrollment and without counting other students whose loss from the district may not have been presented, students leaving the district from just those three schools approaches a million-dollar loss of LCFF funding that has not been factored in.
As a result, it is difficult for me to believe that any plan of closures and mergers could result in a $2 million savings. Looking over the years prior to the pandemic, it was clear that in years when OUSD closed schools, the district lost enrollment and in years when OUSD did not close schools, enrollment was up.
Second, it is deeply troubling that while paying lip service to transparency and public vetting of decisions in committees, this item was listed for but was not actually presented at the Budget and Finance Committee meeting on 8/14/2021. If it is too difficult to get the relevant fiscal information to the B&F Committee on the current meeting cycle, I suggest a swap with the Facilities Committee.
I also suggest that, since B&F has reduced its regular meetings by half since 2020, that, when necessary, B&F meetings go until 8:30 or 9 pm. Hopefully, this is less taxing on staff than meeting multiple times per month.
In closing, I feel I have done my due diligence as a community member in researching these numbers and especially in attending the Budget and Finance Committee meeting last Thursday in anticipation of hearing the district’s presentation on item G-1.
This Board continues to lift up the work of committees as a means of engaging the public in decision making. Clearly, that is not happening, and I hope each of you will refuse to vote on items that have not been through the vetting process you have declared should happen. I encourage you also to re-visit the extensive presentations to the Board made on 5/12/2021 on the first two cohorts (Item M 21-0852) to judge for yourselves whether current projections seem reasonable in light of data drawn from actual experience.
Looking over the projections prior to those cohorts, and in particular prior to the Kaiser closure, you will also see under-projections of enrollment loss.
Finally, please consider that the enrollment loss pattern for this year that seems to be emerging would be 400% worse if it followed the percentages of district enrollment loss occasioned by recent closure/mergers.
Thank you for your attention.
Carol Delton sent this email to school district officials and community members on Oct. 17, 2021.
