East Bay DSA OUSD Program

Preamble

We are Democratic Socialists. We believe in the whole transformation of society, from one dominated by the Capitalist class to one controlled by majority rule. We believe that every person deserves their basic needs met, regardless of their ability. We believe that every person deserves, not just to survive, but to flourish.

Central to that dream of a new society, are our public schools. Public schools represent one of the few places in American society that remain a genuine public good. Working people all across the country depend on public schools to provide care for their children and to prepare them for life as adults. Moreover, the Capitalist class depends on schools to ensure their workers can go to work.

In Oakland, and in cities across the country, public schools have faced a barrage of attacks from the charter school movement and billionaire privatizers. Not happy to simply control untold fortunes, billionaires, like Bill Gates, have pushed a public narrative of public school failure and the need to replace public schools with charters. Most important to this agenda is the crushing of our teacher unions which have been the only sources of resistance to the privatizer agenda.

Indeed, teachers have become the tip of the spear of the labor movement in this country. The Oakland Education Association, in particular, has been a leading light of mass, militant organizing–winning two strikes in 4 years. DSA stands with all education workers in their fight for better learning and working conditions.

With this program for OUSD, we seek to merge electoral, labor and base-building strategies into a comprehensive campaign that confronts the capitalist machine directly. We seek to end the scourge of charter schools in Oakland, and lead the nation into a full embrace of quality, public education for all. We seek to protect the public land our schools sit on and ensure that land is used for the good of the community, not private accumulation. We seek to protect union jobs, and to fight the struggle for public schools alongside rank-and-file members of unions.

We also seek to make clear to our endorsed elected officials that these are important positions to uphold for continued support. Our elected officials represent the most public part of our movement and we must clearly communicate to them our principles and goals.

We hope this is the beginning of building our chapter into a fighting organization for working people. We hope to plant the seeds for decades of working class victory. We know a better world is possible, if we fight for it.

Goals:

Increasing enrollment at public schools
Opposing OUSD corruption and austerity
Students learning and curriculum
Long-term organizing

Increasing enrollment at public schools by:

Converting charter schools to OUSD public schools and moratorium on new charters.
Canvassing neighborhoods and hosting parent, teacher, and student town halls/block parties emphasizing the importance of public education to our community
Ensuring the CA Community Schools grant is spent as democratically decided through the process outlined in the OEA Common Goods.
Work to implement all OEA common good demands

Opposing OUSD corruption and austerity by:

Opposing all school closures.
Requiring, in an instance where a closure moves forward over the objections of EBDSA and our endorsed electeds, (via EBDSA not having a majority of school board votes, for example), a democratic process. This process must include a majority vote in favor of the closure by the parents and teachers at a public school site, before a closure is approved.
Opposing any sale of public land.
In the case of mergers:
Opposing mergers that do not have clear, democratically determined support from the school community, via the process and principles laid out below:
At least one year notice of intended merger
A majority vote of the parents and teachers at a public school site in favor of the proposed merger
All school properties will still remain in use to serve OUSD students and shall not be left vacant
All services and programs offered at the school sites will remain or expand after the merger has taken place
If budget cuts are necessary, cut from top central office positions and contractors, not essential or unionized staff
Conduct an audit of the OUSD budget, particularly of administrative compensation, central office departments, and contractors
Taking private profits out of school services, by “in-sourcing” work away from contractors and to union jobs.

Student learning and curriculum:

Working with special education parents, teachers, and students to preserve disabled student resources. Oppose all cuts to special education resources.
Developing curriculum that emphasizes workplace rights and the right to organize a union

Long term goals

Working to develop a democratic parent, teacher, and student organization to hold OUSD accountable
Developing additional revenue proposals for the ballot
Coordinating statewide efforts across education worker unions and parent groups to fix education funding
Research reduction in class sizes and required additional revenue