Our Path Forward: Building Something Stronger

A parent in the hills and a parent in the flatlands want the same thing: a great school for their child. That is what OUSD is building for both of them.

OUSD is not simply managing a crisis. The District is building a future free from crisis, and that requires honesty about where things stand. In return for your patience through this process, OUSD commits to keeping you informed at every step.

After more than 20 years of costly state receivership and years of moving from one fiscal emergency to the next, Superintendent Dr. Denise Saddler and the Board of Education are committed to a fundamentally different path: building an OUSD that is structurally sound, independently operated, and built for the Oakland of today.

The District that exists today is not the District of 50,000 students from years past. Oakland has changed. Enrollment has shifted. The financial model must reflect that reality, not resist it. The goal is not to restore the past. The goal is to build something worthy of Oakland’s future.

How Decisions Are Being Made: The Care-Centered Framework

Superintendent Dr. Denise Saddler has committed that every budget decision will be guided by a Care-Centered Framework, a set of four questions applied to every recommendation before it is made:

• How does this protect students and their learning? Students come first, always.
• How does this care for the teachers and staff who serve them? Every employee deserves dignity.
• How does this honor the community that trusts us? OUSD is a steward of Oakland, not simply a manager.
• How does this support the Board in its governance role? Recommendations must be defensible and values-aligned.

This is not rhetoric. It is the decision-making lens applied to every trade-off, every reduction, and every difficult choice throughout this process. Rather than across-the-board cuts, OUSD is taking a surgical approach, protecting English learners and the most vulnerable populations while eliminating operational inefficiencies.

What the Plan Does

OUSD is not just cutting to survive. The District is rebuilding to thrive.

• Prioritizes every classroom and the services students need most, while making Central Office reductions first and deepest.
• No school closures.
• Builds a legally mandated reserve, a savings cushion, so the District can respond quickly to unanticipated changes like attendance decline.
• Keeps Oakland in control of its schools, with no state takeover.

What Is at Stake: Oakland’s Right to Lead Its Own Schools

As described in Understanding Our Budget Challenge, OUSD’s ability to make its own decisions is not guaranteed. It must be earned, through fiscally responsible governance, transparent decision-making, and a demonstrated commitment to sustainability.

The Alameda County Office of Education does not just monitor OUSD’s finances. It has the legal authority to intervene when a district’s fiscal decisions are deemed irresponsible. That intervention does not solve the problem. It removes Oakland’s ability to solve the problem itself.