Now take off your hat and brains and show some respect, one of its spokespersons has something Oakland to say:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opxuUj6vFa4

If it makes you angry, shut up and pay your tax increases. If you’re not a tax payer and a pedigreed member of the diversity club be happy, but never ever be satisfied!

So how will ghetto school districts react to a budget crisis? Probably by collapsing the school district completely rather than triage or shrink things to keep a smaller number of students doing well.

Compare what the college districts are doing. They are limiting enrollment to preserve core qualities. It remains to be seen if they can do that fast enough and severely enough.

In the secondary schools certain students are largely gone anyway by graduation time. They drop out. Will the districts identify those students from 9th grade who have the best chances of completing school and start shifting resources to them and away from those who are going to jail or going to die soon anyway? (In other words bring back the A, B and C track). Not going to happen. Even though we can identify those students most likely to go to jail and stay there. The urban public secondary schools would just as soon crash and burn the whole thing rather than triage. Students are fungible to them, all the same.

OUSD will likely terminate all special programs & advanced ed, go to general ed only, then increase class size to whatever it takes to match payroll budget. The higher functioning students will leave for homeschooling and internet high schools as soon as feasible. Those who remain may want to bring their own TP. As far as the teachers, well – I wouldn’t work there.

Bailouts aren’t going to work for long. The federal government will soon not be able to print money fast enough and the state can’t print it at all.

Replenishing the reserve fund is misleading. Each budget is required by Ed Code to have a certain percentage of the budget in reserve

First few years after the State take-over the District was unable to construct a budget that provided for a
reserve that proved sufficient to make it to the end of the year.

Understand that if the District submits a balanced budget in May for the next year and the State then
cuts back like it is doing this year with midyear cuts, a reserve is then at risk.

The required reserve at first was 3% of the budget but in recent years, I believe, it has been reduced to 2%.

I also believe that the District has managed to come up with budgets in the last two years that included a 2% reserve; and, actually had money left over when the books were closed.

The budget again this year, I believe, met the 2% requirement but the Governor has announced midyear cuts that, if followed, will present a challenge and cut into the reserve approximately $1.7 million.

The District estimates the Governor will come in with a midyear cut for Oakland of $12.4 million for Oakland.

At its January 14, 2009 meeting, the District finance officer showed a power point with $10,735,000 in anticipated cuts. The District reserve having to cover $1.7 million of the anticipated cut.

The purpose of a reserve is to met challenges such as a Governor’s midyear cuts.

The District is planning on budgeting for the next two years and trying to anticipate what the Governor will cut.

But, those future budgets will have the required reserve built into each of the budgets.

Jim Mordecai

Watching the dollars in Oakland has been so problematic that it was taken over by the State of California.

Unfortunately, under State administration watching the dollars has also been problematic.

After 5 years of State control the State Administrator issued a contract with a 3rd party for an performance audit over the cash accounting system of the District. The cost of doing the audit and training OUSD personnel to change so as to bring procedures for following the money up to County acceptable accounting standards started at $100,000 and the cost of the work of two 3rd party auditors and trainers will, by May 2009, almost double to $180,000. This money will be taken from the general fund.

A criticism of the State Administration might be how come it has taken it so long to address the issue of how money is handled?

Taken from the agenda of January 14, 2009 State Administrator and/or Board of Education meeting:

Financial Management
08-3235 Amendment No. 1, MOU – Performance Audit – Vavrinek, Trine, Day & Co., LLP – Payroll and Cash Accounts -
Financial Services
OE-08
Oakland Unified School District Page 22 Printed on 1/ 11/09
State Administrator and/or Board of Agenda (Long) January 14, 2009
Education
Approval by the State Administrator of Amendment No. 1, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), between District and Vavrinek, Trine, Day & Co., LLP, Palo Alto, California, adding the provision of staff training and technical assistance to the Scope of Work, to the latter’s engagement evaluating the internal controls over recording and monitoring payroll transactions and related reconciliation of liability and cash accounts in County Treasury prepared by the Alameda County Office of Education and with District bank accounts for the 2007-08 fiscal year, at an additional cost not to exceed $80,000.00, increasing the MOU cost from a not to exceed amount of $100,000.00 to a not to exceed
amount of $180,000.00, for the period June 1, 2008 through May 31, 2009. All other terms and conditions of the MOU remain in full force and effect.
Funding Source: General Purpose
Attachments: Document(s)
08-3244 Amendment, No. 1, Professional Services Contract -

Jim Mordecai

It is not that there is no value in such expenditure but this is a serious financial crisis and the priority of some or all the funding can be challenged.

$5,000 to host two OUSD dinners with Scientists; one for upper elementary and one for secondary. “Each end of the year event will include 200 teachers, students, and local scientists for an evening of food and conversation around the field of science.”

Why not as an alternative hold the conversation at one of the high schools with food prepared by one of the cooking classes and save the $5,000.

$5,000 for renting space at the Chabot Space and Science Center for the yearly science fair. Again space might be found in OUSD or a business might want the event to attract customers.

$28,895 Summer Professional Development. The State provides professional development money and if it cannot afford it this year why should OUSD?

$45,000 Climate Change Summer Institute for 20 OUSD teachers. This PD costs $2,200 per teacher. But, the teachers do get to take back climate science kits for their schools and to boot follow-up sessions will be held during the next school year.

$27,500 Earth Science Outreach program for grades 3-5. 50-minute class delivered to various middle school 6th grades serving up to 2500 students. Surely an enriching experience if concepts are not successfully being presented in class and the 2500 students is fairly accurate an estimate.

$110,000 Field Trip programs at $11.00 a student admission charge waving admission for 10,000 students.
There is no information as to how many students’ admissions were waived last year for OUSD although I sent an email to State Administrator Matthews. The language of up to 10,000 means that any less than 10,000 students attending the cost per student increases from $11.00 a student. And, I am not sure how the 10,000 and 1 student OUSD field trip would be handled.

The issue here is not that programs are useful or desired but can money be spent in the same way during this financial crisis.

I would argue that site based decision making has to be stopped. The amount of money spent on education by California has fallen, according to Ed Week from a ranking of 46 to 47 and with the current budget crisis in Sacramento I anticipating California dropping further. The State Administrator is continuing to budget in the same fashion and it doesn’t make sense because times have changed from the best and worst of times to merely the worst of times and State Administrator Matthews does not seem to have gotten the email.

Jim Mordecai