Last month, the Oakland Unified School District made the difficult decision of approving midyear budget cuts. These cuts will impact a host of different things, including, unfortunately, poverty-stricken communities that are already lacking in resources.

I have been teaching in after-school programs for more than five years, and I have met many students who face significant difficulties. They are newcomers, English language learners who sometimes have a hard time expressing themselves and often have to act as translators for their parents. But they are incredibly smart, bilingual, bicultural, and they know how to use what they have and make the best of it.

Now, Oakland Unified’s $9 million budget cut, while necessary to avoid a full state takeover, will end up hurting students even more, in particular, groups of kids who are already struggling.

Students have testified at school board meetings about how damaging the cuts will be to their schools, and although some school board members have apologized, the tone has been combative among audience members. Everyone is blaming someone else.

Fighting each other will not solve our problems. Instead, we should focus our energy on being resourceful. How can we pull our collective resources and ideas from both the district and the charter community to help all Oakland students?

Read the full article about the school funding crisis in Oakland by Boris Aguilar at The 74.