This is a sampling of The Education Report, Katy Murphy's Oakland schools blog. Read more atwww.IBAbuzz.com/education. Follow her at Twitter.com/KatyMurphy.
Aug. 3: Financial savings -- roughly $2 million a year -- were at the heart of the Oakland school district's case for closing five elementary schools. So, in June and again in July, I asked the Oakland school district for a breakdown of the savings they're expecting now, in light of a recent twist: the unexpected conversion of one of those five schools, Lazear Elementary, into an independently run charter school.
Lazear became a charter simply so it could remain open, so the financial impact of that change -- the loss of enrollment and per-student funding -- is inextricably tied to the decision to close it in the first place.
I've yet to receive a response to my requests, but the district has produced a cost-savings analysis that's left me