Oakland Report examines the falsehoods people in government sometimes tell. This installment fact-checks a seemingly wild claim two school board incumbents are making in the final week of the campaign: that their opponents are backed by “billionaires” who want to turn schools into data centers. (Video clip sources: Instagram @pslbayarea, @valforoaklandschools. Montage by Oakland Report)
Bold claims in the final stretch of the campaign
With one week to go in the Oakland school board elections, school board president Jennifer Brouhard and vice president Valarie Bachelor are delivering a bold closing message: that their opponents are fronts for “billionaires” who want to close schools and sell the buildings for data centers.
Neither Brouhard (running for re-election in District 2) nor Bachelor (running for re-election in District 6) offered any evidence for their claims. It stands to reason that campaign claims this bold — made a week before election day — require unequivocal proof. We examined the record and found no evidence of such.
Key findings
No challenger has proposed selling school property. The only candidates asked about it on the record, at a Sept. 29 forum, rejected the idea of selling school property, and we could find no statements by any candidate that suggest they intend to turn unused schools into data centers.
State law makes a quick sale of school properties impossible, and data centers would be at the end of a very long line to buy them. Disposing of a closed school takes an advisory committee, a two-thirds board vote, priority offers to charter schools and multiple public agencies, and Surplus Land Act notices. The entire process would take at least nine to 18 months, and the chances of a data center winding up on a school property are practically nil.
Oakland’s only data center proposal is for a private downtown office building that previously served as an advanced computing center. The Oakland city council temporarily paused development on all new data centers when it passed a moratorium on Oct. 6.
OUSD’s own “7-11 committee” plan for its currently closed and unused schools is focused on developing housing. Bachelor, as facilities chair, wrote the resolutions. Brouhard, as board president, presided over the vote that created it.
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Brouhard and Bachelor claimed “billionaires” and their political opponents want to turn schools into data centers
Brouhard appeared in an Instagram video posted on October 20 by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a self-described Marxist-Leninist party that has recently advocated against data centers.1
In the video, Brouhard states:
“Every community deserves an elementary, middle and high school, and I think the connection with data centers is with these billionaires… as buildings are emptied, as schools are emptied, I mean I think that’s one of the things behind school closures, is that these buildings are then used for things like data centers.”
— Jennifer Brouhard, OUSD board president
Bachelor posted an Instagram video to her campaign account on October 25 that echoed Brouhard’s theme.2
In the video, Bachelor states:
“Billionaires are trying to take over our school board… the Oakland Unified School District is one of the largest land owners in Oakland… and if you want to build more data centers, if you want to build more market rate housing that pushes out our Black and Brown community members, you want to buy those properties. And my opponents want to sell those properties to the highest bidders and create education deserts in the city of Oakland.”
— Valarie Bachelor, OUSD board vice president
What the challengers have said on the record
We could find no records, statements or evidence to support Brouhard’s and Bachelor’s claims about their opponents wanting to turn schools into data centers.
The challengers, Arielle Fleisher (District 2) and Alexandra Williams (District 6), as well as Kathryn Camp (District 4), have said school consolidation should be on the table for consideration, citing low enrollment and the principals’ letters asking for it.34 But none have mentioned selling school buildings. Nor have they suggested that schools be turned into data centers.
When an audience member at a recent District 4 candidate forum suggested selling two closed sites for $30 million, Camp answered that her recommendation “wouldn’t be to sell them.” She then proposed 99-year leases for low-income and teacher housing instead.5
Empower Oakland, the political advocacy group whose top funders have included one Forbes-listed billionaire,67 endorsed Fleisher and Williams in their bids to unseat Brouhard and Bachelor. It also backs incumbent Mike Hutchinson as its first choice in the District 4 race. (Oakland uses ranked choice voting; Empower Oakland endorsed Camp as its second choice in District 4 and LeAna Powell as its second choice in District 6.) Its voter guide says nothing about property.8
For his part, Hutchinson says he opposes ceding district land for longer than his own term.9
What state law allows school districts to do with surplus properties — and what it doesn’t
A school district cannot sell a school the way a private owner can sell a property, or even the way a city can. State law dictates stricter rules for the disposition of school sites. Per state law, school districts that wish to sell or lease a school property must seat a 7-to-11-member advisory committee, hold hearings and receive a report, then declare the property surplus by a two-thirds vote.10
The school district must then first offer the site, in order, to charter schools, then to park agencies under the Naylor Act, then to the city, county and housing nonprofits under the Surplus Land Act, with a 60-day response window and 90 days of negotiation. Only then may it take other bids. Then the proposal must undergo environmental review. Sale proceeds cannot be used to pay salaries or close an operating deficit.
Bachelor’s phrase “highest bidders” appears to come from that statute. It binds a district only after it has chosen to sell, and OUSD’s own policy prefers long-term leases.11
We found no California school that has become a data center. Oakland’s one current data center proposal is for a 20-megawatt facility in a former Lawrence Berkeley Lab building at 415 20th Street. The city council’s recent data center moratorium, which the council can extend, temporarily halted it.
What OUSD is actually doing with its closed school sites
Bachelor knows the process for the disposition of vacant school sites — or, at least, she should know the process — because she runs it.12
In 2019, OUSD convened a “7-11 committee,” then declared the former Edward Shands and Tilden school sites as surplus in 2020.13
In 2021, the board approved 65-year ground leases for housing, half of it reserved for district staff.1415 Those leases lapsed.
In September 2025, Bachelor sponsored a resolution that funded housing feasibility studies for three closed sites.16
In April, the board approved a new 7-11 committee with members to be seated by June 30.17 In September, all seven seats were still vacant.18
On Wednesday (today), the Shands item Bachelor sponsored is scheduled to return to the board. Her substitute resolution would create a “task force” and states it “does not authorize the sale, lease, or redevelopment” of the property.19
Other considerations and counterpoints
In fairness to the incumbents and to OUSD, we offer these counterpoints for readers to consider.
OUSD has leased closed sites to a private developer before: the 2021 ground leases that were approved before either incumbent joined the board. Both were for housing.
The challengers do differ from the incumbents on closures. The challengers say closures and consolidation should be among the options the board considers, in light of enrollment trends and budget shortfalls; the incumbents have ruled out closures.
The county office of education says OUSD operates 77 sites where as few as 46 would do20 — further bolstering potential closures as a legitimate campaign issue.
Bachelor’s claim is about her opponents’ intentions. But her opponents have not said what Bachelor claims they said — in fact, they appear to have said the opposite.
Prediction, or fiction?
A school board member also is referred to as a school “trustee” because voters have entrusted her with the district’s assets and with telling them the truth about those assets.
Brouhard and Bachelor have described a “billionaire” plot to turn schools into data centers — something no candidate has proposed, that state law limits in several ways, and for which we could find no precedent in California.
The school board’s facilities chair, Valarie Bachelor, who wrote the district’s housing resolutions, and the board president, Jennifer Brouhard, who presided over the vote creating the district’s 7-11 committee, are better placed than anyone in Oakland to know that.
Why they made the apparently false claims they did is for Oaklanders to decide for themselves.
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Party for Socialism and Liberation, Bay Area. "The fight for Oakland schools is also a fight against data centers." Instagram video @pslbayarea, posted Oct. 20, 2026. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeuQqUWi0u3/
Bachelor, Valarie. "Voting is one of the most powerful ways we can shape the future of our communities." Instagram video @valforoaklandschools, posted Oct. 25, 2026. https://www.instagram.com/reel/De7F3MUMB66/
McBride, Ashley. "Election 2026: An experienced incumbent meets a parent challenger in Oakland school board District 2." The Oaklandside, Sept. 22, 2026. https://oaklandside.org/2026/09/22/oakland-election-2026-school-board-district-2/
McBride, Ashley. “OUSD’s District 6 incumbent faces a charter school teacher and a ‘Mama Bear.’” The Oaklandside, Oct. 2, 2026. https://oaklandside.org/2026/10/02/oakland-school-board-election-district-6-bachelor-powell-williams/
McBride, Ashley. “District 4 school board candidates talk literacy, transparency and rightsizing the district.” The Oaklandside, Oct. 22, 2026. https://oaklandside.org/2026/10/22/oakland-election-2026-school-board-forum-district-4-hutchinson-camp-williams/
Wolfe, Eli and Darwin Bondgraham, "Campaign notebook: Misleading ads, including a fake Oaklandside headline." The Oaklandside, Mar. 21, 2025 ($100,000 from Larsen to Empower Oakland)
Forbes contributors. “Chris Larsen.” Forbes webpage, accessed Oct. 28, 2026. https://www.forbes.com/profile/chris-larsen/
Empower Oakland contributors. "2026 voter guide.” Empower Oakland, Sept. 13, 2026. https://www.empoweroakland.com/voter-guide
Op cit. McBride, Ashley (“District 4 school board candidates talk literacy, transparency and rightsizing the district.”)
California Education Code §§17387–17391 (district advisory committee), §17466 (two-thirds vote), §17464 (priority offers), §§17485–17500 (Naylor Act), §17462 (use of proceeds); Government Code §§54220–54234 (Surplus Land Act); summarized in Lozano Smith, “Checklist for sale or lease of school district surplus property.” https://www.lozanosmith.com/docs/resources/SurplusChecklist.pdf
Oakland Unified School District. “Board policy 7350, physical assets management,” adopted Aug. 14, 2013, §III.C.1 (“The District shall pursue long-term leases over sale of property unless otherwise directed after consultation with the Board of Education”); see also Board Policy 3280, “Sale, Lease, Rental of District-Owned Real Property.” https://www.ousd.org/board-of-ed/board-policy/board-policy-preview/~board/board-policies/post/7350-physical-assets-management-bp
Bachelor, Valarie et al. “Resolution authorizing a feasibility study for development of Ralph Bunche, Lakeview and 1025 2nd Avenue.” Oakland Unified School District, Sept. 18, 2025. https://ousd.legistar.com/View.ashx?GUID=E959631C-DF32-42E8-8236-2334DD55B5FD&ID=14794953&M=F
Oakland Unified School District. “Long-term ground lease – district surplus property – former Edward Shands Adult Education Center.” OUSD board resolution, adopted June 30, 2021. https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4740261&GUID=26E68C14-58FC-4C9E-B46E-D59BC0EED935)
Oakland Unified School District. “Long-term ground lease – district surplus property – former Tilden Child Development Center.” OUSD board resolution, adopted June 30, 2021. https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4740260&GUID=A8BC16C6-61AE-48FC-8C10-4848880EB421
Oakland Unified School District. “Declaring the former Edward Shands Adult Education Center to be surplus.” OUSD board resolution, adopted Feb. 26, 2020; reproduced as an exhibit to the June 30, 2021 board memorandum for File 21-0036. https://ousd.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=9537706&GUID=BB643C3C-8F34-4860-B305-FB5A874854C2
Op cit. OUSD. (“Resolution authorizing a feasibility study for development of Ralph Bunche, Lakeview and 1025 2nd Avenue.”)
McBride, Ashley. “OUSD postpones superintendent search,” The Oaklandside, Apr. 23, 2026. https://oaklandside.org/2026/04/23/oakland-superintendent-search-denise-saddler-budget/
McBride, Ashley. “Have ideas for how OUSD should spend money? Apply to join these committees.” The Oaklandside, Sept. 1, 2026. https://oaklandside.org/2026/09/01/have-ideas-for-how-ousd-should-spend-money-join-these-committees/
Oakland Unified School District. “RFP redevelopment of the [or] ad hoc task force to advise on the redevelopment of the former Edward Shands Adult Education Center site for affordable housing and community benefit uses.” OUSD board meeting, Oct. 28, 2026. https://ousd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=8069186&GUID=5142604F-DEA5-4DF1-8934-A07F8684E141
Oakland Report contributors. "'A decision-making problem': County schools chief warns Oakland Unified is at risk of running out of money." Oakland Report, Apr. 21, 2026. https://www.oaklandreport.org/p/20260421-ousd-at-risk
Very weird, dishonest and desperate behavior. “Progressives” do ANYTHING to win elections (lie, cheat, even kill) because they have no real world skills.
Thank you for the report Sean and Oakland Report. Jennifer and Valarie rhetoric have no place in Oakland politics. Leaders are expected to tell the truth. Mindy Pechenuk, for Oakland Mayor 2026