Commentary: Why I changed my mind about Oakland school closures
A former Oakland Unified School District board member shares why he voted for school closures in 2022, after voting against them in 2021.
BY SAM DAVIS
EDITOR’S NOTE: A longer version of this commentary originally appeared on former Oakland Unified School District board member Sam Davis’ Substack. We invited Mr. Davis to share an edited version of his commentary in Oakland Report as part of our reporting on OUSD’s ongoing budget crisis.
With the recent headlines about enormous budget deficits in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and the prospect of a return to state receivership just months after exiting it last July, people have been asking me questions like:
Would school closures and consolidations in OUSD save funding that could be better concentrated at the remaining school sites?
When I was elected to the OUSD board of education in 2020, I was skeptical of proposals to reduce the number of Oakland schools. I voted to delay a school closure and consolidation plan called “Blueprint Cohort 3” in September 2021.1
But a few months later, in February of 2022, I was the swing vote in favor of a plan to close eight schools over two years.2
One of my biggest regrets as a school board member was that I didn’t communicate better about why I changed my mind, and voted for school closures in 2022.
The isolation of the pandemic, and the exhaustion from many battles over COVID safety, made me resigned to public criticism and attacks. I could have done better to respond by giving clear explanations for my votes back then. Instead, I stayed mostly silent in public, and I seriously considered resigning from the board.
Education experts advised us to close schools
Over the course of my first year in office, many smart and experienced education leaders in Oakland advised me again and again that the inefficiency of operating too many “micro-schools” — my term for schools of less than 250 students — spread resources too thin, and that it would be more effective to focus resources on operating fewer, sustainably-sized schools.
I heard this recommendation from then-superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell, from county-appointed oversight trustees Chris Learned and Luz Cazares, and from my board colleague Shanthi Gonzales (who also had started out as a critic of school closures). They spoke from hard-won experience with large urban school districts.
My board colleagues and I heard this recommendation from Alameda County Superintendent of School L. K. Monroe in 2021,3 and from the state’s school finance agency, the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT).4
State Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond approved a “going concern” designation for OUSD due to its budget issues in November 2021.5
Superintendent Johnson-Trammell, the longest-serving Oakland superintendent in recent memory, made her school closure recommendation public with a plan presented to the board in January 2022. She stated that there were two paths: to maintain the current structure, or to make “deeper investments in quality.”6
Given this substantial expert advice, in January and February 2022 I voted for a plan to close six schools, merge two more, and truncate the grade span at two others.
But in January 2023, a new board majority took office and rolled back five of the closures and one grade span truncation.
The superintendent transition – A missed opportunity
Superintendent Johnson-Trammell advised me in early 2022 that she was beginning to plan the transition to the next superintendent, and that this created urgency for a plan to right-size the school district. I could not say this publicly at the time, but this was a major factor in my vote to approve school closures.
Closing multiple school sites is a difficult decision for any school superintendent. Implementing school closures and restructuring during Johnson-Trammell’s final year as superintendent, or during an interim superintendent’s tenure, would have allowed a new superintendent to start fresh, with that budget-balancing work already completed, to advance a positive new vision for Oakland’s future.
Now that Johnson-Trammell has departed from OUSD, that opportunity has passed, and school closures seem to have receded from the board’s budget-balancing priorities. In these circumstances, it seems likely that the district will need state or county intervention to do the painful but necessary work of closing and merging schools in order to ensure the district’s long-term financial sustainability.
Charter school enrollment is declining
People often ask if charter schools will take the place of schools that are closed. This indeed happened many times from about 2005 to 2013. But since the 2019 passage of AB 1505, the rules for opening and renewing charter schools changed,7 and charter enrollment in Oakland has declined slowly but steadily. Ten charter schools have shut down since then, and no new ones have opened.
Another important issue in this conversation is racial equity. The decline in the number of children in Oakland is more significant in areas like North Oakland and the hills, and campuses need to be closed and consolidated in those areas as well as in East Oakland and West Oakland.
Racial equity is an important consideration during planning and implementation of school closures, however is not a reason in and of itself to refrain from closing and consolidating schools where the data shows it is necessary. Also, the impact of not closing schools — the spreading out of resources that negatively affects educational outcomes — is more harmful to students in the long term.
There will always be other arguments against closing schools, but in my time on the board, the advice from people who have run school districts, whether in Oakland or elsewhere, was universal: closures and consolidations are the only sensible way forward for a district with as many micro-schools as Oakland that it cannot afford to sustainably operate.
Experts continue to recommend reducing the number of schools
Impartial experts continue to publicly advise OUSD of the need to reduce the number of schools, emphasizing that the resulting gains in efficiency will ultimately benefit students and school staff.
In 2023, the board commissioned a consulting firm called Public Works LLC to study the district’s central office. They found that a key reason OUSD has such a large central office is to meet the logistical and management needs of so many school sites, and highlighted the “strong need to consolidate small schools” to improve services.8
In early 2025, Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Alysse Castro advised of the need to reduce the number of schools. Castro stated that even though Oakland has more funding per pupil than any other large district in California, its infrastructure costs are “eating OUSD alive.”
A 2024 unanimous board-approved plan for restructuring called for a board-led process to reduce the district’s physical footprint.9 Castro offered county support for a restructuring process in hopes of avoiding OUSD going back into receivership. But after inviting Castro to speak at one meeting in February 2025, the board leadership appeared to pull back from the offer and cancelled special public sessions that had been scheduled with her team.10
A few months later, an external fiscal systems audit of OUSD by Eide Bailly auditor Caroline Larson, an expert on school district finances, congratulated OUSD on finally having the systems in place to exit receivership. But the congratulations were tempered by the heading: “Oakland USD finances have been overburdened since 2003. Why?” The top reason was: “Operating the most schools per pupil in the state,” followed by seven slides detailing how the number of public and charter schools per pupil in Oakland is disproportionate compared to other districts.11
It may be too late to save OUSD from receivership
It takes time to close schools. School communities need and deserve a full year of planning time after the closures are announced. It also takes time to realize the resource benefits, since as Oakland has seen in the past, there can be short-term enrollment drops due to families temporarily leaving the district when schools close.
These numbers can recover after a year or two, but Oakland doesn’t have that kind of time with its current finances. (It would have been better to use the post-pandemic influx of one-time funds to realize the needed changes a couple of years ago, but that opportunity has passed.)
Nobody wants to close schools — it’s one of the most painful and unpopular actions that the leadership of a district can face. Yet the need was clear in 2022, and it is even clearer now, with extremely low third-grade reading proficiency, and an over $100 million structural budget deficit.
There are eleven micro-schools in Oakland at the elementary level, three micro middle schools, eight micro high school programs, and at least a couple of additional elementary schools in North Oakland and the hills that should be merged or closed in order to use the district’s limited resources more efficiently and improve quality.12
As board president in 2024, I encouraged my colleagues to take this difficult vote, with the support of then-superintendent Johnson-Trammell. But after receiving direction from the board in closed session, I did not agendize the full list of closures and consolidations in Johnson-Trammell’s draft plan on the public agenda.13
Instead, the only proposal considered publicly was one merging schools on five shared campuses — an idea that was neither popular nor would save much in the way of resources, and it died in public session without even a motion or a second.
At some point very soon, OUSD will need to put the interests of future generations ahead of those invested in the infrastructure of the past.
Today’s children are confronting an uncertain future. They shouldn’t have to wait any longer for our school district’s leaders to take the difficult but necessary steps to ensure that Oakland’s public school system is sustainable.
The views expressed in our Commentaries do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of Oakland Report or its contributing writers
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sam Davis is an education data analyst at the University of California Office of the President. He was elected to the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education in 2020, where he served from 2021 to 2025, including two years as vice-president and one as president, during which time he was the only OUSD parent on the board. Previously, Davis was a teacher in OUSD’s Adult Education program from 2003 to 2011, where he also served as an Oakland Education Association site representative; and the Manzanita SEED Elementary family outreach coordinator from 2011-20.
See this related article:
Oakland Unified School District. “Board of Education meeting agenda.” Adoption by the Board of Education of Resolution No. 2021-0128C - Postponing Blueprint Cohort 3 to Fall 2022. Oakland, California, Sept. 22, 2021, agenda item #M-1. https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5115097&GUID=C7DA7705-635E-4460-BF5C-3BE133174833
Oakland Unified School District. “Board of Education meeting agenda.” Adoption by the Board of Education of Resolution No. 2122-0030 - School Consolidations for Fiscal Years 2022-23 and 2023-24. Oakland, California, Feb. 8, 2022, agenda item #C-1. https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5399120&GUID=4B4E68C0-F8F3-4276-A10E-FB32F71B35C6
Oakland Unified School District. “Board of Education meeting agenda.” President’s Report - January 27, 2021. Oakland, California, Jan. 27, 2021, agenda item #O-1. https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4748625&GUID=390BA226-B0C9-42D7-86BD-E1F72642A20B
State of California. Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. “Letter to the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education.” Submitted for your consideration in accordance with the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assis-ance Team’s (FCMAT) responsibilities regarding the Oakland Unified School District under Assembly Bill 1840 (Chapter 426/2018) (AB 1840). Sacramento, California, Mar. 1, 2021. https://www.fcmat.org/PublicationsReports/Alameda-COE-Oakland-USD-AB-1840-letter-March-2021.pdf
Oakland Unified School District. “Board of Education meeting agenda.” President’s Report - December 1, 2021: California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond Denial of the Oakland Unified School District’s Appeal of the Lack of Going Concern Determination by Alameda County Superintendent of School, November 8, 2021. Oakland, California, Dec. 1, 2021, agenda item #O-1. https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5336932&GUID=0608DF88-69F1-4F66-8115-7B6956587351
Johnson-Trammell, Kyla et al. “Recommendation for School Consolidations.” Oakland Unified School District, Jan. 31, 2021. https://ousd.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=10508631&GUID=D6B8D6B3-E775-462B-92AB-658A08D00040
Fensterwald, John. “Governor, lawmakers agree on new controls on California charter schools.” EdSource, Aug. 29, 2019. https://edsource.org/2019/governor-lawmakers-agree-on-new-controls-on-california-charter-schools/616877
Oakland Unified School District. “Board of Education meeting agenda.” Presentation, discussion with and possible direction from the Board of Education to the Superintendent of Schools or designee, Chief Academic Officer, regarding the Continuous School Improvement Division Redesign Report - Update (5/20/2024) produced by Public Works LLC. Oakland, California, Aug. 23, 2023, agenda item #R-2. https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6193222&GUID=3423DEF0-F9AB-4C17-AC2D-FBD81831DC33
Oakland Unified School District. “Board of Education meeting agenda.” Adoption by the Board of Education, upon recommendation by the Budget and Finance Committee, of Resolution No. 2324-0212 - Re-envision, Redesign, and Restructure of Oakland Unified School District In 2024-2025 Fiscal Year, As Amended. Oakland, California, Aug. 14, 2024, agenda item #Q-1. https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6658332&GUID=CA353A48-DBB2-44D8-B31A-E44E8A140E61
DeBenedetti, Katie. “Oakland’s School Board Has Long Been in Disarray. Is It Turning a Corner?” KQED, Mar. 4, 2025. https://www.kqed.org/news/12029333/oaklands-school-board-long-been-disarray-is-it-turning-corner
Oakland Unified School District. “Board of Education meeting agenda.” Presentation to the Board of Education, the Public and others, by Edie Bailly, CPA, of the District’s Fiscal Systems Audit, pursuant to Education Code Section 41320.1, prior to District’s final payment of 2023 Emergency Apportionment (State Loan). Oakland, California, Apr. 23, 2025, agenda item #I-1. https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7319381&GUID=90BC07AD-829C-4E64-9219-0067DACA3550
Oakland Unified School District. “Board of Education meeting agenda.” Presentation by the Superintendent of Schools or designee, on the District’s Official Pupil Enrollment for the 2025-2026 School Year including updates on ongoing enrollment work. Oakland, California, Jan. 14, 2026, agenda item #T-1. https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7798975&GUID=687B74D9-CB40-458A-B498-5AED24665C0A
Oakland Unified School District. “Board of Education meeting agenda.” Closed session. Oakland, California, Nov. 4, 2024, agenda item #D. https://ousd.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1241697&GUID=B09FD87A-064C-4503-B316-0ECCD607F07C
I am an OUSD parent with two teens in the system, at Claremont and Oakland Tech.
I am not opposed to closing schools, but I've noticed that the plan to close schools is always presented as an immediate and urgent need.
I'm wondering why OUSD can't come up with a multi-year, staged plan (like, 3-5 years, rather than 1-1.5 years) for closures and consolidations that would actually lay out these savings in a way that shows thought, not panic. Can you tell me why these are never pursued?
Also, can we look back on what we've learned from prior recent closures? What savings were recognized from the painful closure of Kaiser and consolidation with Sankofa? If the answer is that it was nominal or nonexistent, perhaps that should come into account.
Lastly, I'm not sure what you mean regarding charters. It seems to me as if charters have historically taken enrollment from OUSD, and have also taken over sites that were deemed budget-encroaching from OUSD. Are you saying that this has now stabilized and that enrollments across the board are going down in Oakland?
Thank you for this detailed explanation. We had a child in an OUSD school in 2021-2023. Our concern with the early closure plan was that it was abrupt and forced kids under 13 out of their schools just as they were returning to friends and teachers from a year of pandemic remote schooling. Many of the best teachers left the system because their jobs were threatened. It was chaotic and tone deaf for the kids and families. A multi year staged plan with details on where kids and teachers would land post-closing, transportation details, and an explanation of the cost savings justifying the closure would have gone a long way to building public confidence and support for the plan.