Education

OUSD Will Cut Additional $14.2 Million – A Total of $46.7 Million Since January

Published

6 years ago

October 13, 2017

The Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) released a report this week announcing plans to cut an additional $14.2 million in spending to guarantee the district remains solvent in the current school year. With this new round of cuts – on top of the $32.5 million already cut since former Supt. Antwan Wilson left at the end of January – the district will be trimming a total $46.7 million from its budget.

In comparison, OUSD faced a deficit of $37 million in 2003 when the state forced the district into receivership, requiring it to accept a $100 million loan and appointing a trustee with the powers of both the school board and superintendent.

Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell says she will propose a plan for implementing the cuts at the Oct. 25 school board meeting.

“Our goal is to stay as far away from the classroom as possible,” she said. “But we cannot guarantee that there will not be an impact.”

Johnson-Trammell responded to rumors about budget freezes at school sites.

“Food, out of state travel and conferences are the only freezes at this time,” she said, adding that there is already a hiring freeze on new central office staff. The plan is to always have communication,” she said.
Additional cuts were necessary because the district discovered $6.2 in unaccounted expenses since the 2017-2018 budget was adopted in June, eroding the financial cushion necessary to ensure solvency, according to the report. The unaccounted expenses included $1 million for unanticipated special education transportation costs, $700,000 for Beginning Teacher Support, $1.1 million in Human Resources contracts and school staffing errors and $420,000 for a teachers’ union arbitration decision.

The district also decided it needed additional funds for budget projections that were too low for teacher long-term substitutes ($339,474), temporary staffing ($300,000) and non-teacher long-term substitutes ($220,000).
On the positive side, OUSD enrollment increased 549 students above what was projected in the adopted budget, meaning an additional income of $3.1 million from the state.

Of the $14.2 million in cuts, the district will use $1.2 to restore the 2 percent minimum state-required financial reserve and $13 million as a cushion to absorb unforeseen expenditures “or adjustments to existing projections,” the report said.

In a video report to the community posted this week on the school district’s website (www.ousd.org), Supt. Johnson-Trammell discussed the district’s financial condition.

Emphasizing transparency, she said, “I am committed to being clear about where we stand with our finances,” she said.

“OUSD continues to face a challenging budget situation,” she said. “Last year we made difficult budget decisions to ensure we avoided staff receivership. However, more work remains to ensure we regain our financial health. “

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Bay Area

WCCUSD Unveils Fingerprinting Party Dates for Volunteer Badges

The WCCUSD is hosting a series of six fingerprinting parties at different district schools in September, October and February. Reportedly, the process takes little time investment, the volunteer badges are free, and the visits are drop-in — meaning, no appointment is necessary.

Published

22 hours ago

September 27, 2023

Oakland Post

Photo by Kathy Chouteau.

By Kathy Chouteau, Richmond Standard

Are you a parent, legal guardian, or community member who wants to volunteer at a West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) school or event?

If so, first, you need to get fingerprinted and badged at one of the district’s upcoming fingerprinting “parties.”

Here’s a rundown on the WCCUSD’s fingerprinting parties, which will all be held on their respective dates from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.:

, Sept. 2, Collins Elementary, Multi-Purpose Room (MPR), 1224 Pinole Valley Rd. in Pinole;
, Sept. 9, Harding Elementary, cafeteria, 7230 Fairmount Ave. in El Cerrito;
, Sept. 16, Lupine Hills Elementary, MPR room, 1919 Lupine Rd. in Hercules;
, Sept. 23, Helms Middle School, MPR room, 2500 Rd. 20 in San Pablo;
, Oct. 7, Lovonya DeJean Middle School, MPR room, 3400 Macdonald Ave. in Richmond;
, Feb. 10, Harding Elementary, cafeteria, 7230 Fairmount Ave. in El Cerrito.

Note that prospective volunteers should complete the online application (at https://www.beamentor.org/linkpages/mentorasp/specialprojects/wccusd/Default.asp) BEFORE attending a WCCUSD fingerprinting party. Anyone who already has a WCCUSD volunteer badge does not need to apply for one again. Questions? Contact (510) 307-4526.

Bay Area

Performing Stars’ Go On Civil Rights Tour of Alabama

Twenty-two members of the Performing Stars youth and staff took a Civil Rights Social Justice trip to visit Montgomery and other parts of Alabama from Aug. 14-18. They returned on Friday, Aug.19.

Published

4 weeks ago

August 31, 2023

Oakland Post

Members of the Performing Stars Social Justice Youth Initiative visits Mayor Steven Reed (in suit and tie), of Montgomery, Ala. Photo by Felecia Gaston.

By Godfrey Lee

Twenty-two members of the Performing Stars youth and staff took a Civil Rights Social Justice trip to visit Montgomery and other parts of Alabama from Aug. 14-18. They returned on Friday, Aug.19.

Performing Stars previously traveled to Montgomery in 2018. On this trip, they met the city’s first Black mayor, Steven Reed. They also visited the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, the National Voting Rights Museum, the Rosa Parks Museum, Tuskegee University, and Alabama State University.

The trip, a part of Performing Star’s Civic Education Program, focuses on leadership development to better understand how former civil rights leaders fought for freedom, voting equality and prepared the next generation to carry on the important work that is needed in the Marin City community.

Fourteen young people in the group were involved with the Social Justice Youth Initiative, formed in 2018 by Performing Stars, and performed various duties and activities for several years, such as community outreach, voter registration, service learning, food distribution, office administration, and archiving Marin City history.

“We want them to come out and be the new social justice leaders,” Performing Stars CEO Felecia Gaston told Giuseppe Ricapito of the Marin IJ. “What better way to do that than where it all began.”

ABC7 KGO-TV anchor Kumasi Aaron interviewed Gaston before the group went on the trip, and asked about The Performing Stars Social Justice Youth Initiative program, and the Civil Rights Educational Tour.

Gaston said Civil Rights Education has always been important. “In the light of what is going on in our country at this point, we need to educate our young people so they will become the new social activists,” she said.

And going to Alabama is to go where the action took place, where history was made in 1963 when Birmingham firemen hosed down Black protesters and sicced dogs on them.

The Performing Stars, familiar with the real foundation, felt encouraged and excited to now be able to reach more young people in the community about voting and why it is important to vote.

They documented their trip with photographs and videos and will edit their photos and videos and feature them on the local stations here and social media upon their return.

“They will be the up-and-coming journalists,” Gaston said.

This educational tour was sponsored by the TomKat Foundation. Contributing supporters included the Marin County Board of Supervisors, and the Marin County Probation Department.

Bay Area

How Non-Profits Can Strengthen Legal Guardrails

On Aug. 31, OCCUR & San Francisco Foundation FAITHS A Model Built on Faith (AMBOF) will present: Strengthening Your Legal Guardrails 2023 – What Faith Based and Nonprofit Organizations Need to Know.

Published

4 weeks ago

August 31, 2023

Oakland Post

Karl Mill, Esq., founding attorney of the Mill Law Center. Courtesy photo.

By Carmen Bogan

On Aug. 31, OCCUR & San Francisco Foundation FAITHS A Model Built on Faith (AMBOF) will present: Strengthening Your Legal Guardrails 2023 – What Faith Based and Nonprofit Organizations Need to Know.

In this important training, Karl Mill, founding attorney of the Mill Law Center, along with attorney Patrick Hogan will provide an overview of key legal principles every nonprofit leader must know and observe now for the organization’s protection and stability.

“Now more than ever, our communities look to faith-based and nonprofit organizations to fill service gaps and critical safety nets for those who are struggling to survive and thrive in every area,” says Mill, a specialist in nonprofit law. “As faith-based organizations and CBOs push forward to meet these community needs, now more than ever, it’s essential that they are also diligent to continually examine and strengthen their own legal infrastructures. Not learning the basics of nonprofit law can be a costly mistake.”

Training participants will learn:

Overview of some key legal issues for 2023
Maintaining 501 (c)(3) status
Fiscal sponsorship briefing
The Board’s legal responsibilities
Risk factors for your tax exemption
Non-negotiable reporting and filing requirements
Funding issues: donations, donors, and due diligence
Paying attention to employment law issues (employees vs. contractors vs. volunteers)
How to engage in political advocacy without creating risk for your organization

… and more.

“Legal guardrails are central to the organizations’ very ability to function and thrive. Legal stability is critical to getting funding, acquiring loans, managing staff and volunteers, collaborating and partnering with other CBOs, and so much more,” says nonprofit consultant, Carmen Bogan, CEO, The Bogan Group. “This free training from experts in the field, Karl Mill and Patrick Hogan, is a valuable opportunity for our nonprofit community.”