The Oakland Unified School District is racing against the clock and a massive budget deficit. The school board must decide by Wednesday how to cut $100 million from the next school year's budget.

After emerging from a 22-year state takeover this past summer, the district faces the possibility of state receivership again if it cannot close the gap.

For parents like Sarah Selvidge, the budget crisis hits close to home. Selvidge volunteers at her son's school, Edna Brewer Middle School, helping to beautify a campus garden.

"What are you going to cut? I know teachers who buy their own paper. It's just crazy. I don't have an alternative. There's just not a lot of fat to trim at the school sites," Selvidge said.

Many parents like Selvidge volunteer to fill gaps caused by limited school resources, and she worries any further cuts could hurt student learning.

"I'm pretty concerned. I know there's a lot of schools that are really struggling," she added.

District officials said the cuts are unavoidable. The district must reduce $100 million from next year's budget or risk another state and county takeover. The district only recently emerged from state receivership in July.

"To lose local control, I think, again — for our staff, for our labor partners, for everyone — to lose local control is disastrous," said Jennifer Brouhard, president of the OUSD school board.

The board initially tried to reduce spending only at the central office, but that approach proved insufficient. Now, everything is on the table, from cutting school programs to laying off educators.

"It's a daunting task. It's going to be a painful outcome. But I do feel this puts us on the road to streamlining and spending what we have," Brouhard said.

Mike Hutchinson, director of District 4, warned that any program without dedicated funding could be at risk. 

"Since most of our budget — 80% of our budget — is spent on staffing, by definition, this is going to involve reducing our staffing levels across the board, in every position," he said.

For students and parents, the prospect of cuts comes at a time when many schools are already operating at minimal levels. Yet Selvidge believes going back into state receivership is not an option.

"State receivership, it sounds terrible. It didn't really work before either. We did it, they did it for so long. It doesn't seem like it helped. It did not fix the problem," she said.

The school board is expected to make a decision at its Wednesday meeting. The district must present a balanced budget to county officials by Dec. 15.