# Oakland school officials insist surprising budget turnaround is authentic: ‘We can’t manipulate it’ > Source: > Published: 2026-06-26 00:06:13+00:00 **Getting your** [Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...OAKLAND — Leaders of the city’s public schools have approved a new $1.2 billion budget with a surprising revenue surplus, despite [earlier warnings by Alameda County’s top education official](https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/04/21/oakland-schools-superintendent-search/) that the district’s finances are more precarious than they appear. Oakland Unified officials said a $30 million spending reduction in recent months resolved the schools’ operating deficit and has even produced nearly $8 million in breathing room, though longer-term costs still outpace revenues through the end of the decade. Previously, the deficit had been estimated to total around $100 million, leading the school board in February to approve hundreds of layoffs and other spending cuts. The apparent stark turnaround in the months since led to a 4-1 vote Wednesday by the school board approving the 2026-27 budget, which takes effect July 1 and encompasses all Oakland Unified funds, including worker salaries, operating costs and money earmarked for specific purposes. The spending plan will now be reviewed by Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Alysse Castro, who in a June 18 letter to Oakland Unified officials warned that a [tentative labor agreement with the district’s teachers](https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2026/02/26/oakland-school-district-lays-off-hundreds-of-workers-to-balance-100m-deficit/) may not be sustainable in the coming years. Indeed, the size of labor agreement — expected to cost $12 million next year, $31 million the following year and $60 million in 2028-29 — had sparked considerable concern, making the disclosure of extra revenue all the more remarkable. Board Director Mike Hutchinson, a hostile opponent of the teachers’ union who dissented from Wednesday’s vote, ominously told the staff not to “knowingly put forward fraudulent numbers.” The district’s financial officials, however, defended their analysis. “Everything that we have done in our budget is right,” said Tara Gard, a deputy superintendent who temporarily is filling the recently vacated chief business officer position. “We can’t type it over,” Gard added. “We can’t manipulate it.” The plan by Oakland Unified officials to stabilize spending includes withdrawing $14.7 million in funding for special education and eliminating $3 million in consultant contracts, along with a slew of other cuts. Gard also noted that “school site reductions” could be in the district’s future, though the details of that strategy would need to be ironed out. The question of whether to close some of the district’s 80 campuses — which serve an estimated 34,000 students, per the most recent available data — has long been a political wedge issue at Oakland Unified. Questions about whether shrinking schools is a viable path forward could soon resurface as Hutchinson and the board’s most labor-friendly members — directors Valarie Bachelor and Jennifer Brouhard — go up for re-election in November. The district, meanwhile, remains without a permanent superintendent. The board in recent months extended the interim top official, Denise Saddler, for another year. In April, the school board voted to suspend the search for a permanent hire, days after this news organization reported that Brouhard and Bachelor had privately told union leaders that they were sticking with Saddler for the time being. *Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at shomik@bayareanewsgroup.com. *