Oakland school district lays off hundreds of workers to balance $100M deficit

Just days after the Oakland teachers union voted to authorize a strike, the Oakland Unified School District board decided to eliminate hundreds of positions to reduce a $102 million budget deficit and balance the books of one of the largest school districts in the Bay Area.

More uncertainty now looms for the school district’s future, even as the board attempts to ensure its long-term financial solvency.

“We are very disappointed to see the OUSD board vote to approve over 400 layoffs that will do nothing but destabilize our schools,” the union said in a statement. “Especially when there are 250 classrooms without permanent educators and nearly 400 educators leaving the district every year.”

The school board voted 5 to 2 on Wednesday to cut 421 positions, with an additional 144 positions that have been reduced. The district has until March 15 to notify all employees affected.

Many of the eliminated positions were funded through one-time federal funding following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Superintendent Denise Saddler. But the sunsetting of those funds has forced the district’s hand, which she framed as an inevitability with rising health care and pension expenses, combined with state and federal cuts.

“There are costs,” Saddler said. “With our current situation, we would not have the funds to pay our current staff next year if we maintained every single staff person. … We needed to, first of all, stop the bleeding, then find out where we are and work diligently to make decisions about our priorities for next year.”

Schools with significant declines in enrollment will be hit the hardest by the cuts because funding is directly tied to student numbers. The largest reduction in workforce will affect Castlemont High School, which had seven positions eliminated, according OUSD documents.

With nearly 700 students and a 61% graduation rate, Castlemont High School in East Oakland is the poorest performing school of its size in the district, according to U.S. News and World Report.

“Clearly a reduction in force of this scale and size will lead to significant and material changes. There will be services that we cannot provide,” said District 5 Board Director Patrice Berry, one of the two “no” votes. “I want to understand how we can fill those gaps. Are we going to absorb some of those services into other functions and roles? Are we going to stop those programs and services?”

The layoffs will help close a deficit that is necessary for the district to maintain its fiscal independence. This is a real threat for OUSD, which previously went through financial insolvency in 2003 and required a $100 million emergency loan from the state. Between 2003 and 2009, the district’s finances were controlled by a state trustee to serve as the administrator of the district.

OUSD finally threw off the constraints of the state’s control last year. A year later, however, the district finds itself in a frustrating yet all too familiar space. OUSD Board Director Mike Hutchinson castigated his colleagues for not coming up with a plan sooner. Instead, the district faced a fiscal cliff larger than anytime in its history.

“This is the worst crisis OUSD has ever faced,” Hutchinson said. “Period.”