This spring, Oakland Superintendent Tony Smith heralded the elimination of a $40 million structural deficit that he had inherited when he came to OUSD in 2009. Soon thereafter, his financial services team discovered a
multimillion-dollar shortfall, which was followed by major reductions in the proposed
special education budget for 2012-13 and other adjustments.
Then, last Friday, the administration made the deficit-eradication claim once again. A
public statement about the
Lakeview Elementary School sit-in, which is now in its second week, said that the closure of Lakeview and other elementary schools had allowed the district to “eliminate a $40 million structural deficit…”
If you look at Slide #23 in the
budget presentation (second-to-last link), and your eyes automatically run to the highlighted green line, that sure looks to be th