Oakland School District Fudging the Books

From Jack Gerson retired Oakland teacher. Former bargaining team member Oakland Education Association (OEA)

Yesterday the state trustee for OUSD, Christopher Learned, weighed in on the side of the school board, insisting that OUSD has a "structural deficit" such that he will veto a raise of 12% for OEA unless "deep cuts" are made.

First of all, there is no structural deficit this year and there was none last year. Mike Hutchinson has commented on this many times. I have looked at it too, and it's clear that they are fudging the books by sequestering  $49 million in the Books and Supplies budget, $35 million more than they spent last year, and by increasing outsourcing (Contracts and Services) to an outrageous $93 million -- $15 million more than they originally budgeted. This isn't a structural deficit. It's privatization run amok.

Second, it's time to find out who are the real friends of public education, and who are just pretending. So here's what I found on the OUSD website: 

"OUSD is required to host a State Trustee until the full amount of the loan is repaid (expected payoff date is in 2026), or until the California Department of Education determines it is no longer necessary. For more information, contact Christopher Learned at christopher.learned@ousd.org."

So state trustee Learned can be removed by the state education department. Tony Thurmond, as superintendent of public instruction, is the chief executive of that department. If Tony Thurmond is a friend of OEA and Oakland public education, he should repudiate state trustee Learned's irresponsible and factually false statements and remove him as state trustee for OUSD. And he should endorse the call to cancel OUSD's state debt, and call on that other professed friend of Oakland public education, Gavin Newsom, to vigorously campaign to get the legislature to cancel the state debt (after all, that debt tripled under the state's takeover of OUSD, 2003-2009).