GO Board Watch: May 11, 2016
Budget Development, Measure G Update. Williams Report, Facilities Agreements
Welcome to Board Watch for Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The Oakland Unified School District Board of Education held a study session on the 16-17 budget, heard updates on Measure G and Williams complaints, and voted on a number of facilities agreements.
Check out the full agenda and read more about these topics below.
Budget Development Study Session
The board held a study session on the 2016-17 budget at today’s meeting. In summary, the district will receive an additional $25.6 million in funding for the 2016-17 school year, $18 million of which is on-going LCFF funding. 65% of this new money will be used to fund employee compensation increases. In addition, the district is providing an additional $12.8 million to be used at school sites, in categories including Call for Quality Schools support ($3.5 million), targeted support in areas identified by the School Performance Framework ($3.2 million), and educator effectiveness programs ($2.1 million).
This presentation includes more than 100 slides, including details on specific restricted funding sources, how money is allocated to school sites, and information on central office budgets. Here is the full presentation.
The board will receive another budget update on May 25th, once Governor Jerry Brown releases his annual “May Revise”.
Measure G Oversight Committee Report
The board received the 2014-15 annual report from the Measure G Oversight Committee. Measure G is a special parcel tax approved in 2008 which provides an additional $20 million each year to OUSD schools.
According to the presentation, Measure G provided $20.7 million to OUSD schools in 2014-15. Over 90% of that money was spent “to attract and retain qualified teachers”, most of which went to funding approximately 130 teacher positions to help increase salaries. Another $4 million went to lower class sizes across the district, while arts education, school libraries, the Oratorical Fest, and the Oakland Fine Arts Summer School all received between $50 thousand and $100 thousand.
In future years, the report states that “the Committee would like to focus on tracking programmatic impact of Measure G funding for Oakland’s students and explore new processes for allocating Measure G funding in order to maximize that impact”.
For more information, read the full presentation. You can also check out Track G, a website developed specifically to host public information on Measure G spending.
Williams Report
District staff presented its quarterly Williams report. According to the California Department of Education, Williams v. California was a class action lawsuit filed in 2000 on the basis that “agencies failed to provide public school students with equal access to instructional materials, safe and decent school facilities, and qualified teachers”.
According to the report, 43 Williams complaints were filed against the district during the 2015-16 school year, a nearly 300% increase from the 2014-15 school year. The district identifies that a number of the most recent reports (18 of 23) were due to facilities issues, including an increase in complaints related to heat and air conditioning issues.
Facilities Agreements
The board voted on a number of facilities agreements, each of which are described and linked below:
- A Joint Use Agreement between District and Kipp Bridge Charter School for the use of the Lafayette Elementary School campus from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2036 (with two additional terms of 10 years). Kipp plans to build a new building on campus for approximately $9.9 million, which will become property of OUSD at the end of the lease term.
- A Joint Use Agreement (In Lieu of Prop 39) allowing Downtown Charter Academy joint use of Westlake Middle School.
- A Facilities Use Agreement between the District and American Indian Public High School (AIPHS) for use of certain classrooms at the Lakeview Elementary School.