OUSD to Consider Using Entirety of Measure Y Funds to Address Campus Lead Crisis

The Oakland Unified Board of Education is reviewing a new proposal that would divert millions of dollars in unused funds from an infrastructure bond to address the lead contamination issue plaguing many of its schools.

Introduced to the board on Wednesday, the resolution proposes redirecting funding from Measure Y, a $35 million facilities bond passed by the city’s voters in 2020, to help address the problem.

It comes several months after district officials announced that elevated lead levels, well above the threshold set by the district, had been detected in water sources on the campuses of nearly two dozen schools.

On Sept. 30, a community coalition of students, teachers and parents rallied outside Oakland City Hall to protest what they called an unacceptable response from the district, which they said had taken far too long to notify families and was failing to address the issue with the urgency it deserved.

“Is this what our students deserve? Is that what should be allowed to happen? Does that show care for our students? No, it does not,” said Stuart Loebl, a teacher at Frick United Academy of Language — the campus with the highest lead levels — who urged the district to reprioritize the available funds.

Demonstrators also emphasized the potentially devastating health effects that can come from consuming elevated amounts of lead — such as brain and kidney damage, myalgia and other severe consequences.

Measure Y was initially intended for construction, demolition and renovation projects within the district, including major renovations to Skyline High School and Elmhurst Middle School and the demolition of the district’s abandoned headquarters near Lake Merritt. But none of those projects have started yet.

Board members Mike Hutchinson and Jorge Lerma, who authored the resolution, are proposing that the board amend the measure’s original spending plan, scrapping those projects and using the funding entirely for lead remediation.

The board is expected to vote on the resolution in the next two weeks.

“I am excited about the prospect of utilizing Measure Y funds for lead,” Loebl, the teacher, told KQED, emphasizing that this should be the district’s top infrastructure improvement priority. “This is a needed first step to address the crisis that is causing our students to be poisoned by lead in the water.”

But even if the board approves using the measure’s funds for lead treatment, it may not be enough to address the full scale of the problem — in a previous meeting, the district estimated that a complete remediation could cost as much as $53 million.

The board’s consideration of the proposal aligns with a landmark Biden administration announcement on Tuesday, requiring virtually every water utility in the nation to install new pipes within the next 10 years.

Nate Landry, an OUSD parent and community organizer, says that if the board passes the resolution, he hopes the district will collaborate with his coalition in addressing the issue.

“The question of what the actual remediation plan this measure pays for is something that I hope can be developed in partnership with the community,” he said. “That’s been a major focus of the demands that we released.”

Those demands include free blood testing for all OUSD students and employees, comprehensive testing of the soil and grass in playgrounds and other outdoor school areas, and an overhaul of water fixtures at all district schools. Coalition members have also urged the district to lower its threshold for shutting down a water source from 5 parts per billion to 0 parts.

Loebl, who attended Wednesday’s board meeting, has reservations about how the funds will be used, even if the proposal is approved.

“We shouldn’t be seeing this bond money being spent on filters,” Loebl said. “It should be spent on pipe repairs, on fixture replacements.”

Loebl and Landry also both expressed concerns that the district would not include the coalition in decisions about the use of the funds.

“It’s a true coalition in the sense that students are involved, teachers are involved, parents are involved. We have representatives from every union at OUSD who are involved,” Loebl said. “The idea that they might even consider doing any kind of lead legislation without consulting us would be a really big mistake.”