The skinny on Oakland Schools' leaner-than-lean budget

Katy Murphy:

The Oakland school district on Wednesday night unanimously passed a budget for the upcoming school year -- a conservative plan that included deep cuts and extra cash reserves to help cushion the district against the state's volatile funding stream.

The school district's total budget for 2011-12 is projected to be $472.8 million, down from $650.5 million in 2010-11. More than three-quarters of the decline -- $136 million of the $178 million drop -- is construction related. That's because the district has used much of its voter-approved bond money. So (Can you tell where this is going?) board members are already talking about asking Oakland taxpayers to support another levy, possibly next year.

The school district's general fund is smaller, too, without federal stimulus funds to mitigate years of state cutbacks: $376 million, down from $412 million in 2010-11.

Oakland's enrollment is 38,826. The current budget is $472,800,000; which yields per student spending of $12,177. Locally, Madison spends roughly $14.5k per student.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 3, 2011 2:02 AM
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