Issues
Stacy Thomas for Oakland Public Schools
1) Public Schools are under attack in the city of Oakland.
- The Blueprint for Quality schools has already closed schools in several districts and advocates for closing more. Closing our schools actually costs money and devastates our communities.
- Almost 1/3 of our OUSD schools are charter schools which are privately managed but paid for with taxpayer dollars.
- Charter schools are supported by wealthy people outside of our community who wish to privatize our very democratic institution of public education. Michael Bloomberg just donated $500,000 to the Oakland school board races to elect candidates who support public school closures and the charter school privatization movement. Why is Michael Bloomberg spending $500,000 in the city of Oakland?
- OUSD charter schools exist primarily in the flatlands where even greater resources are needed for our public schools.
- Years of second guessing coupled with constantly changing priorities stalled many of the 21 major projects promised in the language of a $475 million school construction bond approved by voters in 2012 (Measure 3).
- Students at McClymonds High School in West Oakland were required to be relocated to other schools due to the finding of (TCE), a carcinogen in the groundwater beneath the school. There was concern that it could be seeping into the building and contaminating the air in Feb 2020.
- The State loaned the city of Oakland $100 million in 2003 when only $35 million was needed to cover over spending.
- The extra $65 million remains poorly accounted for. Until that loan is repaid, the Fiscal Crisis Management Team (FCMAT) attempts to control and override school board decisions.