The Price You Pay

 This is nothing new.

The Oakland Unified School District is struggling to live within its means. Sitting on this side of the fence, it would be easy enough to say that the problem is that they are spending too much money. This side of the fence is where the teachers live. We don't have to make choices about how money gets spent. We also get very uptight when we feel as if we are not being paid what we should. 

If I were to levitate above the fence, creating a perspective from both sides, I could see that there are a myriad of factors that keep OUSD from being able to pay their bills. One of these just happens to be the benefits package that fills in some of the void created by a lower paycheck for its employees. Those benefits are what keeps many of us "front line" folks from going in search of greener pastures. Having my family's medical bills covered has been a blessing during a time when those costs have crushed a great many citizens of this great land of ours. And, after a slow but steady climb up the salary ladder, I can report that I am finally making a living wage. 

Which is part of the reason that the Oakland Unified School District continues to flounder. Not my salary in particular, but rather the increases that have been given to all of us union types after a series of successful work actions. The same can be said of the way those work actions helped keep a number of smaller schools open, including the one where I work, when the economic realities might have shuttered them. 

And all of this struggle comes at the feet of a beast that expects public schools to run like a business. The idea that K-12 schools would turn a profit is ridiculous and illusory. The way we "earn" our money is based almost entirely on Average Daily Attendance, or ADA. If anything, like say a global pandemic, disrupts that average, our funding suffers. The same cannot be said of military spending. It does not matter how many people are volunteering for our armed services or what wars we may or may not be fighting, that number continues to climb almost exponentially. One might imagine that a governmental agency looking into "efficiency" might have taken a look at that model. 

Nope. Sorry. They have been far too busy closing the Department of Education and other agencies that might end up benefitting children. This, as near as I can tell, is the basis for that ethereal notion of "school choice." 

Meanwhile, back here in Oakland, we struggle to keep the lights on because choosing our schools hase become more of a marketing chore than a public service. I continue to ponder how much longer I want to stick around in this environment, but the truth is this: I can't afford to quit. And that's not just a financial decision. It's a deep-seated conviction that this is a job worth doing for more than a paycheck.