‘You should resign’: Oakland school board member calls for interim superintendent to quit
Board member Mike Hutchinson sharply criticized interim superintendent Denise Saddler for failing to provide financial data as OUSD faces a $50 million budget deficit and possible state takeover.
BY OAKLAND REPORT AND LOCUNITY
March 25, 2026 – Oakland school board director Mike Hutchinson publicly called for interim superintendent Denise Saddler to resign, calling Saddler’s performance “not good enough.”
The interim superintendent delivered a mostly verbal summary financial and attendance report to the board on March 25, but offered no written documentation to back up her financial updates.
Hutchinson then sharply criticized Saddler for failing to provide written financials, and for being unresponsive to his emailed questions about the district’s finances and cutting their recent one-to-one meeting short.
In her own defense, Saddler stated that she cut the one-to-one call short and did not respond to Hutchinson’s emails because she was called away by a family medical emergency over the weekend.
Board president Jennifer Brouhard and vice-president Valarie Bachelor defended Saddler by stating that she is responsive to their inquiries. Board member VanCedric Williams defended Saddler by emphasizing her 40 years of experience working for Oakland Unified School District (OUSD).
Board member Patrice Berry recommended that Saddler place financial updates on every board agenda and include written materials going forward.
Saddler, who is said to be interested in the permanent job, reports directly to the seven-member school board. She was appointed to the interim role in July 2025 after the board fired long-time superintendent Kyla Trammell-Johnson.
Video clip 1. OUSD board member Mike Hutchinson sharply criticizes interim superintendent Denise Saddler and calls on her to resign. (Source: OUSD)
‘This isn’t good enough’
“Unfortunately, because of this poor performance and we still don’t have a fiscal solvency plan, I firmly believe, Dr. Saddler, that you should resign.”
– Oakland school board director Mike Hutchinson, Mar. 25, 2026
OUSD is facing an unfilled $50 million-plus budget deficit, with a potential state takeover deadline looming.
If OUSD cannot pass a balanced budget by July 1, Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro could be forced to recommend that the state take control of the district again — less than a year after the district emerged from 22 years of state receivership.
Returning to state receivership would again strip the elected OUSD board of most of its authority and put decisions about schools, staff, and spending in the hands of a state-appointed administrator.
In her verbal presentation to the board, interim superintendent Saddler reported approximately $65 million in savings from ‘Phase 2’ budget reductions and described a new process in which she personally reviews all contracts above $25,000. She warned that achieving budget savings is more urgent than ever.
But board member Mike Hutchinson rejected those assurances, noting that the board has never received written documentation supporting the $65 million figure. He pointed out that the district’s chief business officer (CBO) role has been vacant for several months, and that the fiscal consultant contract with Hazard, Young & Attea was set to increase to $865,000 — roughly three times the cost of a permanent CBO. (Later in the meeting, the board deferred action on renewing the contract until April 22.)
“Where do I send my resolution to get a fiscal impact analysis? Because I know the truth of the matter is there’s nobody currently in the district who can even do it.”
– Oakland school board director Mike Hutchinson
Hutchinson also expressed frustration that he had sent 17 questions to the interim superintendent a few days earlier, but received no response. Saddler responded that she was dealing with an unexpected family medical emergency.
Watch the full March 25 OUSD board meeting video:
Hutchison then read his 17 questions into the public record (see below), including a demand for detailed accounting of the claimed savings, clarity on policies governing staffing decisions, and whether the superintendent will certify that OUSD can afford its tentative agreement with the Oakland Education Association (OEA).
He warned that if the OEA tentative agreement is approved, the deficit will exceed $100 million.
Hutchinson’s call for Saddler’s resignation carries no procedural force on its own, but it signals a deep fracture on the seven-member board over the district’s fiscal direction, and raises questions about the district’s transparency with respect to its precarious financial condition.
Interim superintendent Saddler’s presentation
Hutchinson’s remarks followed an approximately 30-minute verbal presentation from the interim superintendent, illustrated with slides.
Video clip 2. Interim superintendent Denise Saddler delivers a mostly verbal presentation to the school board on March 25, 2026. (Source: OUSD)
Transcript of Hutchinson’s remarks calling for Saddler to resign
“That was a very disappointing report. In the printed version, the PowerPoint that’s handed out that everyone has to take with them – all it has is stuff about the summer and highlighting some schools. Yet you proceed to just rattle off all of this other information without a document to show it or to prove it – including everything about facilities, everything about the finances.
“One of the reasons why we’re facing claims and lawsuits of antisemitism and people really upset that it hasn’t been addressed, is instead of putting your statement in writing where everyone could see, you just read it off here.
“This isn’t good enough. Not good enough at all. And the fact that there’s no financial person here to make a presentation tonight? You know, again, you mentioned that the $65 million that’s been identified against our deficit. Fine, I’ll take your number, even though we’ve seen no document to prove it, but that means we still have an over $50 million deficit for next year. There’s no moving into budget adoption when there’s a deficit that we have no way to be able to fill.
“I’m really disappointed about what happened at our last board meeting, the exchange that was allowed to happen with the consultants, and it wasn’t addressed. And I’ll talk to you privately about how upset I was in our one-on-one meeting that I only had you there for a few minutes.
“It’s just not acceptable. It’s just not good enough.
“I sent you a list of 17 questions over the weekend asking for answers. Everything from how much savings are being achieved to some of the staffing cuts that we’ve seen listed, the policy that directed those decisions, and even most importantly, where do I send my resolution to get a fiscal impact analysis? Because I know the truth of the matter is there’s nobody currently in the district who can even do it.
“You haven’t taken any actions to hire a new chief business officer, yet on today’s agenda, you’re going to be spending another $450,000 to extend the contract of the consultants who were unvetted, have an awful reputation and are giving extremely poor advice? That’ll bring their total contract to $865,000 – three times what it would have cost to keep paying a chief business officer. This is unacceptable.
“When we get to these questions later, I hope there’s somebody here from the finance department to answer the many questions that I have, and I hope you’re prepared to answer questions that I have about the extension and the contract with HYA explicitly. Because I now know that there are some real shenanigans going on and I’m going to keep saying it as long as I have to – and just so I can clearly say it before my time is up here:
“Unfortunately, because of this poor performance and we still don’t have a fiscal solvency plan, I firmly believe, Dr. Saddler, that you should resign. I’m really troubled by your tone of conversation where you make it seem like you’re going to apply for this long-term job after what’s happened in your eight months as interim superintendent.
“Nobody else has ever had a year where we got out of receivership and we’re now going to go back in, in the same calendar year. This is not the kind of history that we should be making here in OUSD. Thank you.”
– Oakland school board director Mike Hutchinson
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Transcript of Hutchinson reading 17 questions into the record
“One of the reasons I was so upset about not an answer is, of the questions that I sent, there should have been easy answers, actually, for all of those questions. This is not something that took any work, if we were doing things the right way.
“So what I’m going to do is I’m going to make sure I read my 17 questions here into the record so everyone can hear what I’m talking about. And again, this is the first time in my five years on the board that I’ve ever had to email the superintendent questions because I couldn’t get an answer from anyone.
“What supports are available for me to hold a town hall?
“Where do I send my resolution for a fiscal impact analysis?
“How many and which schools are being left with zero TSAs [Teachers on Special Assignments] in 26-27?
“What is the policy governing how TSAs are distributed across OUSD?
“How much savings did cutting TSAs achieve?
“What is the policy on which schools get community school managers?
“What is the savings from the cut in community school managers?
“Are community school managers still on 11-month contracts in 25-26 and 26-27?
“Are some teachers and TSAs still on 11-month contracts in 25-26, 26-27?
“What policy is there to cut middle school electives?
“What is the cost savings from cutting middle school electives?
“Have outside partners in philanthropy been asked to help fund OAL [Oakland Athletic League] staff positions?
“What is the total savings from the two approved RIFs – Reduction in Forces – how much of that is in the unrestricted?
“I need a detailed accounting of the 65 million that has been identified to address the budgetary shortfalls in 25-26 and 26-27.
“How are the savings achieved, and in which funds? Are dollars being taken from Measure N, Measures H and G1 to address the deficit?
“Is the superintendent going to sign off declaring that OUSD can afford the OEA tentative agreement?
“And lastly, how are you going to present a balanced budget for the board to adopt when OUSD still has a $50 million deficit for 26-27 even before the OEA tentative agreement, and if the tentative agreement is approved, the deficit will be over 100 million?
“Most of those questions should be able to be answered off the top of people’s heads – and the rest of them, all it should take is a senior staff being put in touch with me, and they could pull this information up quickly. But what I fear most of all is going on is, there’s no answer to these questions because nobody knows and nobody thought about it – which means there is no policy governing our financial decisions and we don’t have a financial person here to even be able to explain it.
“This is a complete failure and at this point I take it very personally because I also represent 50,000 constituents, and the people in District 4 deserve the same sort of treatment that everyone else seems to be giving to themselves and seem to be receiving from you. Thank you.”– Oakland school board director Mike Hutchinson
Scheduled closed-door board discussion about the interim superintendent’s employment apparently did not take place
Earlier in the meeting, the board convened behind closed doors to discuss the interim superintendent’s employment contract, but after returning from closed session, board president Brouhard reported that “the board did not discuss this matter.”
Interim superintendent Saddler’s current contract with OUSD awards her a salary of $357,054 per year plus benefits.1
The next meeting of the OUSD budget and finance committee is scheduled on April 2.2
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Oakland Unified School District. “Approval by the Board of Education of an Employment Agreement for Interim Superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District.” OUSD board meeting agenda, June 25, 2025. https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7432209&GUID=4094DD4B-96E3-4795-A9B9-69A4ADA759D5&Options=&Search=
Oakland Unified School District. “Budget and Finance Committee meeting agenda.” OUSD, Apr. 2, 2026 https://ousd.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1403434&GUID=3F4AF662-7854-4D5F-B142-B078EBB9C637&Options=info|&Search=
Perhaps if the school board - and the city council for that matter - had members with real finance backgrounds instead of these ceaseless “community organizer” types we would have people who know how to run multi-million dollar enterprises. Just a thought.
Hutchinson’s statement is rough, but I’d have to agree based on his rationale. It’s the blind leading the blind I’m afraid.