As Public Pressure Mounts, City Council Backs Teachers

By Julian King and Richard Marcantonio

Thanks to the overwhelming support Oakland parents, students, and community members have voiced for teachers in their contract fight against racist austerity politics in the school district, the Oakland City Council will vote this Tuesday, February 5 on a resolution supporting the demands of the Oakland teachers’ union, the Oakland Educators Association (OEA), in the upcoming strike.

The resolution was introduced by Council President Rebecca Kaplan, and newly-elected Councilmembers Nikki Fortunato Bas and Sheng Thao. It will come before a City Council with a mixed record of supporting public education in the city, having recently been charged with handing city land to a charter school in a decision that an Alameda County Grand Jury called “backroom dealing.”

The outpouring of support for the teachers, who are fighting for an end to school closures, more services for students, and higher pay, has made it clear to the City Council that their constituents are on the side of the teachers and students.

“The support that Oakland’s public school teachers have gotten from elected leaders like Council President Kaplan is a reflection of the broad support we’ve felt from the community at large,” said OEA President Keith Brown.

OEA will hold a rally in front of Oakland City Hall on February 5 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The City Council hearing begins at 5:30. Teachers are anticipating a sea of supporters in red shirts, symbolizing the nationwide #RedForEd teachers’ strike movement. The strike wave has made important gains to win control of public education back from billionaires and corporations from West Virginia to Los Angeles.  

Brown, who will announce the result of The union’s strike vote Monday at 4 p.m., wants the Tuesday rally to be a big show of strength and support. “I welcome our students, parents, and community organizations to join us at the February 5th rally at City Hall,” he said. “Together we can save our public schools and offer all our children the education they deserve.”

Echoing the language used by the teachers’ union, the city council resolution notes that “Teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions, both students and teachers suffer when schools are understaffed and teachers are overworked.” It goes on to argue that “OUSD teachers deserve a competitive, living wage that will allow them to live in the city they work in, support their families, and retire with dignity.”

By adopting the resolution, the Council would “go on record expressing support for Oakland Unified School District teachers and opposing school closures,” and would urge “the OUSD School Board to respectfully meet with the teachers to ensure vital public needs are met including reasonable lowering of class sizes, hiring more student support professionals, and ensuring all OUSD teachers are paid a living wage competitive with other Alameda County public school districts.”

The resolution also opposes school closures, like the closure of Roots International Academy that the OUSD Board voted to approve earlier this week. In Council President Rebecca Kaplan’s memorandum explaining the rationale for the resolution, she states that “Studies also show that school closures are a ‘high-risk/low-gain strategy that fails to hold promise with respect to either student achievement or noncognitive well-being.’”

The resolution has already garnered strong support from a broad range of community groups. A dozen membership organizations, including ACCE, Californians for Justice, Youth Together, Causa Justa, the Oakland Climate Action Coalition and Oakland Rising, submitted a letter expressing their “solidarity with Oakland’s public school teachers and students,” and urging the Council to show its support. The letter concludes:

The attack on public education is an attack on a public good we all depend on; it is an attack on our teachers and the school support staff they depend on; and it is an attack on our children’s right to achieve and contribute to their fullest potential. We thank you in advance for helping turn back these attacks by expressing strong support for our public school teachers, students and parents through this resolution.

In a separate supporting letter, the Alameda Labor Council wrote that “Our sister and brother teachers in the Oakland Unified School District are nothing short of a public treasure.”

On Tuesday, with the expected passage of the resolution and the show of community power outside City Hall, the teachers – and the students and families they’re fighting for – will be one day closer to a historic strike and one day stronger against the billionaires who thought they could buy off the Oakland public school system.