The East Oakland school of the Arts at Castlemont is losing 22 percent of its positions next year, according to a new district report. Westlake Middle School, United for Success Academy, Sankofa Academy and Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy — to name a few — also plan to make deep staffing cuts that exceed their enrollment declines.

For the first time since Oakland adopted its controversial school-based budgeting system, the school district’s financial department has made public school-by-school reports. The one-page documents include projected changes in enrollment, revenues, spending and staffing levels. In other words, they show the effects of the state budget cuts and enrollment decline at the school level.

Photo Caption: “Due to budget constraints, ALL employees are expected to grow their own pencils.”

A word of caution when looking through these documents: Read the rest of this entry »

Another Office Space-like euphemism has woven itself into the OUSD-reform discussion. You will find it on Slide 26 of a presentation which the board hears tonight during a special meeting to discuss the district’s finances.

The fiscal recovery plan is an 86-page document, condensed into a 52-slide PowerPoint presentation, so there’s loads of information to digest about the district’s overall financial condition, massive debt and enrollment trends.

The bottom line? OUSD’s financial office is recommending the closure or merger of 10-17 schools Read the rest of this entry »

This headline caught my attention today when I got home from school and glanced at the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle. It interested me because this decision will have a big impact on myself and others my age; and the headline picture consisted of students protesting at the state Capitol.

The picture reminded me of a previous heated debate over a blog entry about students protesting at the Olympic torch relay.

These possible budget cuts would raise the already high college tuition and also require colleges to cut down on spending, which sounds like bad news to me. As a junior in high school, college is constantly talked about, encouraged, and expected of me. I have no doubt that I will be able to get into a good college, but paying for it is another thing. Read the rest of this entry »

There isn’t much good you can say about a 14 percent teacher turnover rate. But when it comes to state budget cuts, Oakland Unified’s revolving door may not be all bad — at least for those who stay.

The district announced this afternoon that Oakland’s permanent teachers, counselors and librarians — and, for the most part, new, untenured teachers — won’t be receiving pink slips as part of the plan to cut $23 million from the 2008-09 budget.

(About 47 first- and second-year teachers might lose their jobs, slightly less than last year. District spokesman Troy Flint says those layoffs are not directly related to budget cuts.) Read the rest of this entry »

Matthew Green, a former journalism teacher at Fremont Federation’s Media High School, wrote a compelling story for the East Bay Express about the continual theft of computers and other equipment from Oakland’s public schools.

Daniel Hurst, principal of Fremont’s College Prep & Architecture Academy, told Green that the school loses $50,000 a year, easily, because of break-ins. Hurst was quoted as saying that the phenomenon was “the cost of doing school in this environment.”

Last summer, after someone swiped 18 brand new Macintosh computers from a locked case on the McClymonds campus, Tribune reporter Jennifer Scholtes did a clip search and found quite a few theft reports.

At the time, then-OUSD spokesman Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday morning update: The vote is in. Measure G passes with 78.6 percent approval.

Update at 11:38 p.m.: More precincts! Nearly half are in, and 82 percent of voters have approved Measure G. It needs 66.7 percent to pass.
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It’s been slow going tonight on the Alameda County Registrar’s Web site. I don’t know how many times I’ve clicked “refresh” and come up with the same numbers.

At least there are numbers now. If the rest of the precincts follow a similar pattern as the first 14 percent that reported, Oakland will have a permanent parcel tax for its public, non-charter schools.

In those 37 precincts, 74 percent of voters approved Measure G.

Sunshining, to be exact.

The district airs its first proposal for the next teacher contract at Wednesday night’s board meeting.

The teacher’s union, which publicly announced its demands already, will formally do so as well.

 The Wednesday evening gathering at 1025 Second Avenue includes a report on how the guv’s proposed budget cuts would affect OUSD, and details of a new incentive plan for substitute teachers.

And here’s something I haven’t seen in my three years covering education: Read the rest of this entry »

It seems like just yesterday that the Oakland school district settled on a teacher contract on the eve of a planned one-day strike…

Lest you grow all misty eyed about the small patch of common ground found at the last minute, I’m here to tell you that the next round of negotiations is about to begin. The hard-fought contract expires in June.

I met today with OEA president Betty Olson-Jones and executive board member Jack Gerson to discuss the union’s opening proposals, which will be divulged at a Thursday afternoon press conference.

“How are we going to recruit and retain teachers without making dramatic changes?” Gerson asked. “If we keep the status quo, where will we be? Where’s the city going to be? Who’s going to want to walk out on the street?”

I promised not to `scoop’ them by blabbing the details, but I can tell you this: The next few months (hopefully, not longer) should be very interesting.

image from aloshbennett’s Web site at flickr.com

I’m sure most of you are well aware that Schwarzenegger aims to terminate the state’s massive deficit by cutting programs across the board by 10 percent. That would mean a $4 billion loss for schools.

Well, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill doesn’t think that approach is very prudent. Her analogy? A financially strapped family who decides to blindly cut each of its expenses — groceries, clothing, entertainment — by 10 percent, rather than trimming movies, restaurants and other non-critical expenses first.

She says the governor’s proposal Read the rest of this entry »

Today I sat through four hours of discussions about budget cuts, inadequate funding and deficits at a Senate Education Committee meeting in City Hall.  

Rather than bore you with the details, I thought I’d post a fitting piece of satire from one of my favorite publications:

Underfunded Schools Forced to Cut Past Tense From Language Programs

WASHINGTON—Faced with ongoing budget crises, underfunded schools nationwide are increasingly left with no option but to cut the past tense—a grammatical construction traditionally used to relate all actions, and states that have transpired at an earlier point in time—from their standard English and language arts programs.

Read the full article.