“I am a parent at Oakland Tech with 10h grader. Please do not cut the teachers on special assignment. Our school needs to support our teachers so they can learn the system and become tent poles of out school. We have already experienced losing good, young, enthusiastic teachers. We most support young teachers. They are critical for moving important strategic initiatives such as professional development for new teachers, literacy, attendance, school wide communications, etc. Thank you!”

“I am a parent at Oakland Tech, unable to attend today's meeting, with an 11th grader. It is imperative to not cut the teachers on special assignment. They are absolutely critical for moving strategic initiatives such as professional development for new teachers, literacy, attendance, school wide communications. Thank you kindly

Please make budget transparent. There is excessive money budgeted in "books and supplies" versus what has historically been spent in that category. That alone would reduce the deficit by tens of millions. Be to be transparent about how much money is in reserves versus what is legally required. We need to invest in our CURRENT students. Another area to look at is where pay increases are being made to pay upper management or to hire upper management positions when we have more upper management than comparable local districts. We pay upper management very well and they readily get yearly pay increases while our teachers have to fight for pay increases through union contract and argue why we deserve yearly pay increases (which we do not receive). We don't have a budget crisis, we have a priorities crisis and it needs the courage of the board to stop this behavior. Our students can't wait. Our schools can't wait. We can't wait.

I echo many of the public comments already submitted in opposing cuts to TSA positions in schools. These cuts would damage the interests of students and families. For students to have a successful, meaningful experience in school, they must have high quality, well-trained teachers.

Please do not cut the TSA positions. They are critical for the stability and health of OUSD schools. Parent of 7th and 11th OUSD students.

Please do not cut the TSA positions! Over our family’s 11 years at OUSD, we have seen the importance of TSA positions in filling gaps that often occur because of reduced budgets. TSAs are nimble roles that support the administration and students who need extra help so they don’t fall through the cracks. In times of budget cuts, they are even more critical. They knit together gaps and nurture the heart of the school. Thank you for listening.

I strongly oppose the budget cut impacting OUSD TSA's. Without their support, such responsibility will not only negatively impact admin but the students themselves! Admin already having tons on their plate means they would have less time to intentionally support the students throughout high school and other staff. As an advocate for education in many districts, I've seen the impact made directly by the TSA's by supporting important services available to our students wanting to leverage education to break out of generational barriers. In addition TSA's responsible for welcoming new teachers is crucial in increasing teacher comfortability as they adjust, increasing retention rates which make a huge impact in the experience of scholars. The budget cuts of vital resources are counter intuitive to the creation of an educated community and truthfully, dangerous to our youth looking to change the trajectory of their lives. Seems to be beneficial for the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

We're District Four homeowners and parents of an Oakland Tech junior. Please do not cut the teachers on special assignment. We need them to be able to provide the specialized expertise that our otherwise overwhelmed/overworked regular teachers can't. Our schools need smaller class sizes, more specialized staff, more campuses, better supported teachers, and well taken care of support staff. We support quality public education!

Having attended Budget & Finance committee and Board meetings throughout the year where CBO presented many times explaining the work being done to solve the budget deficit issue and maintain solvency I support this tough decision. Cuts are not easy but we have to avoid insolvency and the resulting loss of local control of our district which would result in much deeper cuts.

I am in strong opposition to any budget cuts that affect students. Bring contracted positions in line with other comparable districts, budget appropriately for books and supplies, and bring central administrative positions in line with other comparable districts.

I am a parent at Oakland Tech with 9th and 11th graders. Please do not cut the teachers on special assignment. They are critical for moving important strategic initiatives such as professional development for new teachers, literacy, attendance, school wide communications, etc.

Thank you!
Mimi Ho

Having attended Oakland public schools for the last twelve years, I worry about the sidelining of small schools in this proposal. Cutting funding, autonomy, and staff is not going to work. Staff absence will not be improved by giving staff more roles and fewer resources. Student absenteeism will not be solved by lumping them into larger schools and classes. I am skeptical of assertions that negative effects "will not be felt by students" (Option 30) when Oakland schools already labor under a palpable atmosphere of overwork and understaffing. We know we don't have enough teachers. Nothing affects the affective environment of a school more than its teachers, which doesn't exactly make students want to attend more often. Sustainability doesn't feel like slow disintegration.

So the question is: Is a couple million dollars, a few percent points off the deficit, worth the loss? How much further can this go before we enter a death spiral?

We know the answer, really. Are you listening?

I second many of these comments in particular the importance of the TSA roles in schools that already have so little administrative help. As a parent that is often at the school 2-3 times a week, I see a school that is woefully under-staffed on the support side. The TSAs fill critical roles. Please take a look elsewhere for cuts (Psst: look to Berkeley's number of schools per student capita for reference)

I believe OUSD needs to balance their budget, and they need to do that by consolidating and closing some schools, we have way too many. Too many facilities are costly and will only become more so. You should NOT balance the budget by eliminating key support positions of Teachers on Special assignments. They are the GLUE that make schools function and filling giant gaps. Don't lose good staff and administrators, lose the overhead of unsuccessful locations and staff that are problems. THANK YOU! You have a hard job, but don't sacrifice learning to pay the bills.

TSA positions in Oakland schools often fill vital roles that woulds otherwise be left vacant. The TSA at my child's elementary school served as an assistant principal who also supported students who had IEPs and 504 Plans. At her high school, Oakland Tech, a TSA supports new teachers, which us critically important at a large school like Tech where our most important asset is well-trained teachers who feel supported and appreciated. I urge you not to cut funds for TSAs where possible.

I am strongly opposed to the proposed budget cuts that the district is presenting for OUSD schools. IT is fascinating that we are comfortable bottom lining an administrative budget with a superintendent and other staff who make above $200,000 annually while proposing cuts to essential workers at the site level. As in years prior, OUSD continues to defund essential positions and programs to schools most in need of wrap around services and support. We continue to balance budgets that cause the students most in need of support, to no longer have the essential services that ensure their needs are met in school and beyond. The positions OUSD prioritizes funding, could fund LARGE NUMBERS OF ESSENTIAL POSITIONS AND PROGRAMS FOR OUR SCHOOL SITES. Sondra Aguilera shared that OUSD's vision for student centered schools. This is NOT student centered. This is not staff or teacher centered. You cannot expect students to excel without supporting the wrap around services we provide for students.

As a teacher I am very concerned about the proposed cuts to Oakland schools. As it is we do everything we can do support their learning each day, provide a joyful space, and tend to their mental health needs day after day, year after year. And yet as it is we have a limited tool box to better support students in their learning. It's alarming that the district would propose cuts to further hinder our ability to support students. Nowhere in the cuts did I see any mention of cuts to central district positions, bonuses, etc. And at no time in my teaching career have I witnessed central district money helping support our students.

Cuts to TSA positions in schools damages the interests of students and families. For students to have a successful, meaningful experience in school, they must have high quality, well-trained teachers. Many TSAs are charged with coaching teachers to improve their practice. TSAs act as a natural check in the system to coach teachers through any gaps in their training, bolster their strengths, and develop their skills, all so students can have a better experience. In an era where teacher burnout is at an all time high, where we have a teacher shortage, and where we have record numbers of teachers who have not gone through credential programs, we need TSAs now more than ever so that our students can have teachers who are trained by veteran practitioners to do their jobs well.

I am strongly against any proposed cuts to TSA positions in schools. As all of the board should know, site administrators have unrealistic expectations on them, and they are therefore unable to do the work of really nurturing a school community: working with new teachers, creating relationships within school pathways, and bringing fresh new instructional and curricular ideas to staff. TSAs fill that role. We already have a teacher retention issue, and losing supports for teachers in the classroom will exacerbate this. We already have a student enrollment problem; losing more teachers will exacerbate this, too. If we were not already running at bare bones, perhaps TSAs would seem like s luxury. However, we cannot lose more qualified adults working with our teachers and children. Look elsewhere, please, to balance the budget; perhaps in outside contracts and bloated administrative salaries.

The budget crisis is a contrivance. Hundreds of million dollars in reserves, a bloated and divorced-from-reality books and supplies budget, rampant overspending on external contracts (nothing new here, see the 2019 Alameda County Grand Jury report), and yet here we are, with District leaders speaking out of both sides of their mouth - paying lip service to the importance of compensation increases to attract and retain labor while also pinning the need for this scattershot package of budget cuts squarely on the backs of OUSD teachers and staff. While we all share the goal of getting out from under the thumb of FCMAT and their appointees at the ACOE (and here I am in full agreement with VP Hutchinson: the county are *not* our "friends", and it was deeply alarming to hear the superintendent claim otherwise), opening the door to cuts that will decimate student services and staff working conditions across the district should not and cannot be the ticket out of receivership.