Oakland Council Will Give $1.2M to Save School District Programs

OAKLAND, CA -- The Oakland City Council voted on Tuesday night to provide $1.2 million to the city's school district to save schools' restorative justice programs and foster care managers and restore library services.

The programs were threatened when the Oakland Board of Education voted on March 4 to cut nearly $22 million from the district's budget for the 2019-20 school year, saying at the time that it made the cuts so the district could remain fiscally solvent and afford to pay for raises it agreed to give to teachers to end their seven-day strike in late February and early March.

The City Council approved a resolution authored by Councilmembers Sheng Thao, Nikki Fortunato Bas, Noel Gallo and Council President Rebecca Kaplan that allocates up to $690,000 to fund the restorative justice program and $510,000 to restore funding to district libraries and foster youth case managers.

The money, which is being provided immediately, is coming from the city of Oakland's higher-than-usual real estate transfer tax revenue.

Gallo said on Wednesday that it was important for the council to act quickly because foster care managers, library technicians and restorative justice employees would have been laid off at the end of the month if the funding wasn't provided.

Referring to the vote to provide the money, Gallo said, "For me it was the right thing to do."

Bay City News contributed to this report.