Oakland voters have a choice this election season:
Do they pick school trustees who stir up community dissent by objecting to necessary campus closures and ignoring fiscal realities to advance the agenda of their union backers?
Or do they want elected leaders focused on addressing the school district’s financial challenges and improving the quality of education?
Those who want the latter should vote in the upcoming Nov. 8 election for David Kakishiba in District 2, Nick Resnick in District 4 and Kyra Mungia in District 6.
The school board majority made tough choices after an analyst for the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team reported in January that the district faced a structural budget shortfall of more than $60 million annually.
The closures and consolidations of 11 schools were part of closing that gap. They were essential and a requirement for the district to continue to receive state financial assistance.
And they were common sense: The average enrollment of Oakland schools was the lowest of California’s 50 largest districts. Keeping small schools creates wasteful administrative and maintenance costs, siphoning money that could be better used in classrooms.
Right now, the district badly needs to improve classroom education. The last reliable test data, from 2018-19, showed only 33% of district students were at grade level in English and 27% in math.
While the district seems to have balanced its budget for now and can probably meet its expenses for the next two years, that equilibrium is tenuous. The district has a history of promising more than it can afford during labor negotiations. Pandemic relief money will expire. The state’s temporary protection of school districts against lost revenue due to declining enrollment will expire. And a likely recession could lead to cuts in state education funding.
In short, this is a time for district leaders to focus resources on improving education rather than wasting funds operating partially empty buildings and inefficiently conducting classes with too few students. This is not a time to demonize school closures or, as some candidates have done, participate in protest occupation of one of the closed campuses.
District 2 – David Kakishiba
Kakishiba has devoted his entire four-decade career to helping kids. He previously served three terms, from 2002-14, on the Oakland School Board and has worked as executive director of the East Bay Asian Youth Center since 1980. Now he’s vying to return to the school board and is clearly the most qualified District 2 candidate.
He does not support last spring’s school closures because he says they were done haphazardly under time pressure. But he says the district, with its decades of declining enrollment, needs to reorganize and have fewer schools.
Max Orozco is a handyman and parent with kids in Oakland’s school system who is running to stop the school closures and claims the district has millions of dollars available. He was a supporter of protesters who occupied Parker Elementary School for 125 days after the district closed that school.
Jennifer Brouhard, the third candidate in this race, opposes school closures. She did not attend her virtual interview after saying she would.
This District 2 seat is currently held by Aimee Eng, who opted not to see reelection.
District 4 – Nick Resnick
Resnick, a district parent, is a former Oakland math teacher. He is now CEO of a company that develops literacy and language curriculum alternatives to traditional textbooks.
Resnick recognizes the district’s finances are tenuous and that closures were needed to close the budget gap — and to better deliver education to a shrinking number of students. In contrast, Mike Hutchinson has been a staunch opponent of school closures and says they are financially unnecessary.
Hutchinson is a current school board member who has represented District 5 since 2020. But his neighborhood was moved into District 4 during the city’s recent redistricting. He has two years remaining on his District 5 term. If he wins in District 4, the board would select a replacement or an election would be called to fill the rest of his District 5 term.
The third District 4 candidate, Pecolia Manigo, did not show up for her virtual interview. She was recorded in August on video leading a crowd of parents in a confrontation with security guards at Parker Elementary School. Oakland residents should expect better of their school board trustees.
The District 4 seat is currently held by Gary Yee, who served on the school board from 2002-13 and since 2018 and served as the district’s acting superintendent in 2013-14. He opted not to seek re-election.
District 6 – Kyra Mungia
Mungia, who taught in the district from 2013-16, is now deputy director of education in Mayor Libby Schaaf’s office. She currently holds the District 6 seat, having been appointed by the school board this year after Shanthi Gonzales abruptly resigned and slammed the Oakland teachers union for opposing school closures.
Mungia is now running for a full four-year term. She well-understands the district’s financial challenges and wants to work toward a long-term sustainable budget. She would like to avoid more school closures but is realistic about that. “I cannot commit to never closing a school again,” she said. “I have seen what it looks like when resources are stretched across too many school sites.”
Joel Velasquez, a construction safety engineer and district parent, opposes school closures, led an occupation of Lakeview Elementary in 2012 after the district closed that school, and has participated in protests at Parker this year. The third candidate in the race, Valarie Bachelor, an organizer for the California Federation of Teachers, declined to be interviewed.
For more latest Education News Click Here