Oakland Unified Looks at Closing Up to 24 School

By Ken Epstein

The Oakland Unified School District’s Board of Education is moving ahead with a “Community of Schools Policy” that will mean closing as many as 24 schools over the next several years, arguing that these closures are the best way to improve the quality and equity of schools across the district.

Pushing the district to make the cuts have been a number of outside agencies – a state-supported nonprofit called Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), which has been pushing for school closures in Oakland for almost 20 years; a state-appointed trustee who has the authority to “stay and rescind” district budget decisions; the Alameda County Office of Education; and pro-charter groups like GO Public Schools, stand to reap the benefits of the reductions.

“OUSD will need to operate fewer schools. OUSD currently operates too many district-run schools for the number of students we serve,” according to a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) produced by the district.

The number and names of schools that will be closed or “consolidated” will not be made public until February when the board releases a “final Citywide Map” that will include the number and location of “surplus properties,” which may be offered for sale.

District officials have gingerly approached the prospect of shutting down and merging schools, one of the most explosive concerns in Oakland that over the years has mobilized the angry opposition of parents, students, teachers and school communities.

Adding to the potential for conflict, other budget-related issues are coming to a head – the possibility of a teachers’ strike for a new contract in the next few months and the already approved budget cuts of $30 million that will deeply impact school site programs.

The district says it is not committed at this point to closing all 24 of the 87 schools it currently operates.  The reduction of the number of schools by 24 would leave the district with the estimated minimum number of schools it would need operate, say officials.

Closing 24 schools would give the district the minimum number of schools it needs to serve all of its students over the next five years, according to the FAQ.

A recent report from the district does not name 24 schools but identifies them by grade level and location:

• One high school in East Oakland;
• Six middle schools, including five in East Oakland and one in West Oakland, and:
• 17 elementary and K-8 schools, including 14 in East Oakland, two in Central Oakland and one in West Oakland.

Significantly, no closings are proposed for sites that serve hill areas and more affluent students.  Schools that are protected from the threat of closure include: Claremont Middle, Edna Brewer Middle, Oakland Technical High, Hillcrest (K-8), Piedmont Avenue (K-5), Peralta (K-5), Chabot (K-5) and Glenview (K-5).

Officials optimistically say these reductions will produce greater educational equity among remaining schools “long-term sustainability” of the school system.  However, judging by the past aggressive tactics of the charter school industry, there is a hat there is a real possibility that existing or new charter schools would take over the vacated schools, leasing or purchasing the properties, and push he district into a cycle of declining student population and loss of revenue.

Currently 45 charter schools operate in Oakland, serving about one-third of the students in the city. These schools are publicly funded, diverting resources from public schools, but they are privately managed. They are not bound by most of the state Education Code and operate with little oversight.

State regulations for establishing new charters allow them to appeal to the county board of education and the state board of education of the district denies their petition.

The district’s proposal does not examine the performance of charters nor place any of them on the list of possible closures.

Adding to pressure on the district, a recently passed law, supported by Governor Jerry Brown and Oakland elected state representatives, requires the district to cut programs and close schools as a way to obtain temporary extra state funding.