Oakland and Its Own School Board Are Locked in a Legal Fight Over Election Costs

A legal spat between the city of Oakland and its school board over the cost of elections doesn’t appear to be heading toward a quick resolution, as the board argues that it’s not responsible for paying such costs.

This comes after the city sued the Oakland Unified School District on Friday, seeking an order for the district to pay more than $2 million, alleging that the district’s Board of Education has refused to pay its fair share of election costs, dating back to the school board election in 2020.

“We operate schools. We don’t run elections,” Board President Sam Davis told KQED on Tuesday. “That’s just not what we do as a school district.”

At the center of the city’s grievances is an unpaid bill of $600,000 for a 2023 special election to fill a vacant seat in East Oakland’s District 5. The complaint filed by Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker said the school board opted to hold a special election to replace board member Mike Hutchinson rather than appoint a provisional board member.

“The law is clear that OUSD is responsible for paying the costs of the 2023 special election that it called to fill a vacancy on the OUSD Board and for paying its fair share of other election costs,” Parker said in a statement. “The City always strives to resolve issues without resorting to litigation.”

Davis responded that the Alameda County superintendent called the special election, not the school board.

“Maybe that’s just semantics, but these are the details that matter in a legal dispute,” he said.

Oakland city officials claimed that OUSD already owed the city more than $1.5 million for its share of election costs in 2020 and 2022 — and that officials hadn’t realized it. In their complaint, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, they allege a “history of past payment” by OUSD and say “clear California law” requires school districts to pay their share of election costs for ballot measures related to OUSD.

But Davis said the past two general elections were called in compliance with the city’s charter.

“There’s cities like New York or Boston where board members are appointed in different ways by the city. But in Oakland, the choice of the city has been to have elections,” he said. “That’s why I believe it’s the city’s responsibility to organize those elections and pay for them through the county.”

Davis said he hopes the city will drop the lawsuit, but in the meantime, the school board will continue working with the city on other pressing issues — like high levels of lead contamination found in some schools’ water.

“There’s some areas where we actually need to collaborate,” Davis said. “And by getting involved in litigation, it just takes resources away from serving our kids.”

KQED’s Annelise Finney contributed to this report.