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Agenda Item
R.-1 24-2598D Adoption by the Board of Education of Resolution No. 2425-0129A - 2025-2026 Budget Balancing Solutions, addressing District's $95 Million Deficit (Third of Three Readings).
I appreciate that, faced with a huge budget deficit, it is easier and more acceptable to cut expenses across the board or eliminate an entire job position. I hope you will be more forward thinking and thoughtful. As a volunteer with the League of Women Voters of Oakland, I've experienced how effective a non-teaching position, for instance, can be in creating meaningful learning and growth opportunities for students - including those that are unfounded state mandates like Voter Education weeks. During the election season this fall, Ms. Jah-yee Woo was exceptionally effective in creating options for hundreds of students at Oakland Tech to participate in discussion of how voting matters and how to be an informed voter as well as pre-registering to vote. She, in effect, expanded the capabilities of already over-loaded teachers and perhaps reduced turnover. I hope you will be bold enough to find a balanced budget that serves students' best interests and is sustainable.
I appreciate that, faced with a huge budget deficit, it is easier and more acceptable to cut expenses across the board or eliminate an entire job position. I hope you will be more forward thinking and thoughtful. As a volunteer with the League of Women Voters of Oakland, I've experienced how effective a non-teaching position, for instance, can be in creating meaningful learning and growth opportunities for students - including those that are unfounded state mandates like Voter Education weeks. During the election season this fall, Ms. Jah-yee Woo was exceptionally effective in creating options for hundreds of students at Oakland Tech to participate in discussion of how voting matters and how to be an informed voter as well as pre-registering to vote. She, in effect, expanded the capabilities of already over-loaded teachers and perhaps reduced turnover. I hope you will be bold enough to find a balanced budget that serves students' best interests and is sustainable.