The Oakland school board is reversing course, restoring millions of dollars to fund after school programs.
The Oakland Unified School District board voted on Wednesday night to reverse a resolution that would’ve cut funding by 50% for afterschool programs.
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WATCH HEREIt was a sigh of relief for parents who depend on it.
Before Wednesday's Oakland Unified School Board meeting, parents voiced their frustration and concerns as they were worried about the future of afterschool programs in the district.
“If I lose my job, my daughters loses her school and then, our way of life changes,” said Na’dra Hennington, a parent.
Hennington said the proposed cuts to afterschool programs will affect her in two ways. She’s a program manager for one of the district’s programs…so cuts put her job in jeopardy and she also depends on the programs to take care of her 4-year-old.
“There will be students with no safe place to go, don’t have childcare,” she said.
During its March meeting, the OUSD board passed a resolution to put a cap on services and contracts for next school year at $125 million.
The board’s vote had an unintended consequence of impacting contracts connected to afterschool programs, potentially reducing funding for some of these programs up to 50%.
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SIGN UP Students also made it clear to board members during Wednesday’s special session meeting that the resolution needs to be repealed.
After hearing from the speakers, the board deciding to move forward with an amendment to repeal the resolution to restore funding to these programs.
At the next meeting, the school board will discuss when the money will be available to fund these programs next school year.
