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Dana Byrd, 20, of Oakland, Calif. works on an assignment at Edward Shands Adult School on...

OAKLAND — Patricia Jensen turned her back to the few students who remained in her classroom during the lunch break. She didn't want them to see the grief on her face, an emotion she had tried to conceal when she told them what was happening.
The Edward Shands Adult School in East Oakland, a second chance for many Oakland residents, is likely to close this year — and not for a lack of need. If the budget cuts proposed by the governor in May make it into the final state budget, Shands and most other adult education centers and programs in Oakland, which has offered classes for 139 years, will be history.
"It's a death," Jensen said. "It's a death of hopes and dreams for our students."
The Legislature, notorious for missing its budget deadline, could be months away from making final decisions about school funding. It, too, faces a mounting deficit as its tax revenues plummet. School districts, however, are required to submit balanced budgets by Wednesday. Faced with a deficit of $110 million and the prospect of losing state funding for its all-day preschools, Oakland school district officials say they had to plan for the


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