Source: EdSource
Oakland Unified recently attracted statewide attention when its teachers won higher pay, smaller classes and more staff support after a seven-day strike. As attention turns to how to pay for the four-year contract, Oakland is again in the spotlight for the unprecedented help it has received from the Alameda County Office of Education to overhaul its fiscal practices. A county team is providing assistance and training in the district’s business office amid budget cuts and a central office reorganization that includes the elimination of the chief business officer position. While the county office routinely helps districts with their finances, the assistance being given to Oakland is intense and unprecedented among districts statewide, said Michael Fine, CEO of the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team, or FCMAT, a state agency that assists districts with financial matters.