Fellow Oaklanders, as the sounds of joyful children echo from classrooms across the city, I look ahead with both deep concern about our serious fiscal challenges and hope.
Hope because I see an opportunity for us to come together to reimagine our school district to truly meet the needs of every student, family and educator.
In my seven years as superintendent, we’ve built reliable fiscal systems, improved graduation rates, provided historic pay increases to retain great educators and modernized facilities like Madison Park and Glenview Elementary.
But due to several factors that challenge public school districts across California right now — driven by massive declines in student enrollment — we face a severe budget shortfall.
The influx of COVID-relief funds during the pandemic helped keep us afloat. Those funds are now gone, and we must take action to address the reality of today’s deficit.
If we do nothing, by 2026-27, the cumulative deficit is projected to reach $140 million. At that point, we would be forced to turn over local control to the state of California, as we did in 2003.
Oakland Unified School District serves 34,000 students today — down from 50,000 in 2003, a steep decline in enrollment and the state funding we receive for each child we serve. This trend is projected to continue: By 2032, we expect the city to have several thousand fewer students.
Yet our facilities footprint hasn’t changed. For our 34,000 students, OUSD operates 77 facilities, while Fremont serves the same number of students with just 41 facilities. Even Long Beach, serving twice our students, operates roughly the same number of facilities.
Key to this work reimagining the district is taking a hard look at our staffing structure and operational costs. We currently budget for many positions that are unfilled and maintain systems that could be more efficient. By addressing these operational inefficiencies, we can provide more resources to directly support students and staff.
To jumpstart the initiative, our school board recently passed the “3 R’s Resolution,” a road map to help re-envision, redesign and restructure the district. It’s more than balancing books — it’s about rekindling the promise of public education in Oakland through the most strategic, efficient and equitable use of all our assets in service of students and staff.
On Wednesday, we expect to present a recommendation to the board that will be the first step toward long-term sustainability.
The road map includes a reduction in facilities and infrastructure costs — it has to. It will explore reducing budget allocations and staff positions that don’t maximize our teaching and learning goals. It also looks at the highest and best uses of our vacant properties to benefit OUSD and the community.
By optimizing our resources, reimagining our schools footprint — including merging some schools — and innovating funding solutions, we’re not just solving problems — we’re creating possibilities.
A reimagined OUSD could look like this: More dollars to expand and deepen joyful experiences for students in music, performing arts, sports, student clubs, and rigorous and engaging academics in high quality schools with updated facilities to serve all families equitably.
Let’s be clear: The discussions ahead will stir strong emotions and questions: How will changes impact my child’s school? Can’t we just “chop from the top”? Will these changes truly improve student success?
We will grapple with all these questions together at board meetings and in community forums over the next several months. And we will make critical decisions to lay the foundation for a sustainable and thriving district.
I am all-in on Oakland and committed to creating a sustainable, equitable district that delivers on our promise of quality community schools. We need you to join us in building a better public school system.
I’ve always said that it takes a village. Let’s come together, Oakland Village, for our children.
Kyla Johnson-Trammell is superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District.
