City Government

Opinion: Share Space with Charter Schools: Mandates and Responsibilities

Published

6 years ago

May 29, 2019

The Board of Education’s Community of Schools Policy calls on us to reimagine our school system to ensure a quality school for all Oakland students. We know that all students deserve a clean and safe school in their neighborhood with ample space for academics, recreation, and vital programs that support social emotional learning.

Over the past few weeks, members of our community have expressed growing concerns, and in some cases hostility, around the possibility of students attending charter schools being housed on the same campus as students attending District-run schools due to Proposition 39 (Prop. 39).

I write to you today to dispel misperceptions about Prop. 39 and to clarify the District’s efforts moving forward. My team and I have made clear our position that the laws governing California charter schools need to be reformed in order to stop producing unintended and inequitable outcomes.

Prop. 39 is about district facilities. This law sees district facilities as resources to be used for educating California students regardless of whether they attend a district-run or charter school.

Prop. 39 mandates that districts make facilities available to eligible charter schools that submit a request for facilities. These facilities must be:

sufficient to accommodate all of the charter schools’ students;
reasonably equivalent to those found at other district schools/facilities; and
contiguous, furnished, and equipped, and shall remain the property of the school district.

Prop. 39 uses specific formulas for determining exactly how much space OUSD has available and interferes with the ability of OUSD and our district-run schools to make decisions for how available space is used.

In fact, OUSD has been the subject of a lawsuit since 2016 related to the District’s implementation of Prop. 39. This ongoing suit, among other things, alleges that the District has not met its legal obligations in providing reasonably equivalent space to charter schools.

We need to unite around a vision that allows for schools with enough space to meet the needs of every Oakland child, period.

With that in mind, I urge all of us–no matter your background–to model positive conflict resolution and respectful behavior. I understand the tensions around this issue and that we are in the last couple of weeks of a difficult school year. However, our children are watching how we handle ourselves when difficult issues arise. They all deserve positive models and safe spaces. Behaviors outside of this are unacceptable. All students should feel welcome on any campus.

I want to remind you that the conflicts that have arisen because of Prop. 39 are not unfamiliar in OUSD, or anywhere else. Sharing space is always challenging, as it is when two district-run schools share a campus, and even when schools share space with after school programs.

Sharing space is the immediate conflict, but these issues are rooted in the chronic underinvestment in education that is happening across the state. Even if we doubled education funding tomorrow, we would still have to figure out the best way to work together on behalf of all Oakland students.

Without that foundation, we will lose the unity we need to address the fundamental issues to truly realize quality across all schools.

We are currently planning to meet with state legislators to share with them our experiences with the current Prop. 39 law, and inform them that we are calling for change to help ensure that all students have the facilities they need and deserve.

OUSD Supt. Kyla Johnson-Trammell

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

2 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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IN MEMORIAM: Nate Holden, State Senator and Longtime Los Angeles Councilmember, Dies at 95

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described Holden as “a lion” in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council.” Hahn added that she learned a lot working with Holden when she was a new councilmember.

Published

1 week ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Former Los Angeles Councilmember and California State Sen. Nate Holden. File photo.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Nathaniel “Nate” Holden, a prominent figure in the city’s politics, passed away at the age of 95, his family confirmed on May 7.

Holden, who represented South Los Angeles for 16 years on the City Council and served one term in the California State Senate, was widely regarded as a forceful advocate for his community.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described Holden as “a lion” in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council.”

Hahn added that she learned a lot working with Holden when she was a new councilmember.

Holden’s journey to political prominence began in the segregated South, where he was born in Macon, Georgia, in 1929. He often recalled the childhood moment when he first heard the governor of Georgia vowing to continue suppressing Black people.

“Doing the best you can for the people. Law and order. Make sure that people’s communities are safe. I did it all,” said Holden, reflecting on his legacy.

Holden is survived by his sons, including former California Assemblymember Chris Holden, who represented a district in Southern California that includes Pasadena and Altadena in Los Angeles County and cities in San Bernardino County.

Oakland Post

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.