Community

Community Rallies to Stop State Bill That Would Require School Closures

Published

6 years ago

June 8, 2020

Local residents are scrambling to oppose a state bill that they recently found out about that would require the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to sell, lease or consolidate public school properties in order to receive temporary special funds to mitigate the impact of state-required budget reductions.

The wording that impacts OUSD is one section of the 83-page “2020 Governor’s Budget Education Omnibus Trailer Bill,” which covers a wide range of issues and is scheduled for approval by June 15 or earlier.

The OUSD section amends a previous law, AB 1840, backed by Senator Nancy Skinner and Assembly members Buffy Wicks and Rob Bonta, which currently says the district “may” sell public property to achieve financial stability but is not required to do so.

The amendment says state aid for OUSD would be “contingent” on “new conditions” as follows: “affirmative board action to continue planning for, and timely implementation of a school and facility closure and consolidation plan that supports the sale or lease of surplus property,” according to a March 2 letter from the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), a state-funded agency that oversees OUSD for the state along with the Alameda County Office of Education and has a long history of pushing the district to close schools.

A resolution opposing the amendment was recently passed by the Representative Council of the teachers’ union, the Oakland Education Association (OEA).

In a June 4 letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, OEA President Keith Brown wrote, “The current (bill) adds requirements for OUSD to close and consolidate public schools in order to quality for AB 1840 funding …(though) AB 1840 was never intended to force school closures.”

Forcing the district to close schools is a terrible idea made even worse at the present moment, Brown said.

“Closing school facilities now will exacerbate the ongoing public health crisis, cause negative social-emotional and educational outcomes and negatively impact OUSD’s financial stability,” said Brown. “To preserve necessary resources during this ongoing pandemic, we should modify the Trailer Bill to prevent any permanent school closures or consolidations for OUSD until the COVID-19 crisis ends.”

Brown also emphasized the impact of school closures on Black and Latino students. “Permanent school closures and consolidations disproportionately impact student and communities of color – our most vulnerable students and families, and the same communities suffering the worst outcomes from COVID-19.”

Brown endorsed amendments to AB 1840 proposed by Assembly member Rob Bonta that would ensure that OUSD preserves all available public school facilities for the duration of the COVID-19 public health crisis, which are necessary to facilitate social distancing when children return to school.

In an interview with the Oakland Post, Bonta said the Trailer Bill amendment “could be interpreted, would likely be interpreted, to require school closures and consolidations.”

“I’m seeking to have the bill changed,” he said. During the present pandemic, he said, “We need more outdoor and indoor space… which should be used to keep students safe.”

Bonta said that from what he is hearing, FCMAT and OUSD are the ones backing the Trailer Bill amendment. He said the people who introduced the amendment did nothing to inform him, Wicks or Skinner, who were the authors of the original bill, AB 1840. “I don’t want to be a part of any budget language that suggests or explicitly states that they should close or consolidate schools,” he said.

Some education activists view the proposed amendment as an attempt to make it more difficult for a new anti-closure school board, if one is elected in November, to reverse the decisions of the current board.

“Seems like folks behind this trailer bill amendment to AB 1840 are more fearful that a new four-seat Oakland school board majority might derail their plan to close Oakland public schools and sell/lease public school property before the AB 1840 fast-track real estate sale provisions run out, than they are fearful of the coronavirus,” said Jim Mordecai, education activist and retired teacher.

In an interview with the Oakland Post, FCMAT CEO Michael Fine denied the amendment requires the school district to sell property in order to get state relief funding, contradicting what others see when they read the bill.

“All we are calling for them to do is proceed with their planning,” he said. “We don’t dictate what their plan is. It is their local plan.”

“Closing schools or reconfiguring schools is one of the many things they need to consider,” he said. “If they decide that is not workable, there’s no problem – the state is not dictating how they stabilize themselves. But if they decide on a plan and don’t move forward on it, that’s a problem.

“The district is making great progress,” Fine said. “They’ve done an outstanding job in the past year.”

Ken Epstein

Posts by Ken Epstein

Related Topics:(AB) 1840 FCMAT Oakland Public Schools

Up Next

Opinion – City Must Act on the Voters’ Will to Protect Workers

Don't Miss

Ministers Lead the Way to Safe Testing at West Oakland Health Center

Ken Epstein

Click to comment

#NNPA BlackPress

Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

2 days ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

Published

3 days ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

#NNPA BlackPress

Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

5 days ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke