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Measuring the Measure
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V Smoothe
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Last Updated on July, 21 2008 at 02:20 PM
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Even as Oakland City Council is asking property owners to pay $267 a
year to fund 105 more police officers and 75 extra police service
technicians, City Councilwoman Jean Quan is proposing a November ballot
measure that would eventually take an extra $13 million annually from
Oakland’s general fund and award it to programs aimed at helping
Oakland’s youth.
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Photo By V Smoothe
Update on A Better Oakland
Even as Oakland City Council is asking property owners to pay $267 a year to fund 105 more police officers and 75 extra police service technicians, City Councilwoman Jean Quan is proposing a November ballot measure that would eventually take an extra $13 million annually from Oakland’s general fund and award it to programs aimed at helping Oakland’s youth.
While City Councilmember Pat Kernighan recently argued on an online neighborhood forum that the non-profits given money by the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth “are better evaluated and provide more service per dollar than any program I am aware of,” the truth is that after a dozen years and many millions of taxpayer dollars spent, the goals of the measure remain vague and actual results are unclear. Ms. Quan and her allies on the City Council want to double the money spent on Oakland youth without evidence past programs have worked, and as the number of students enrolled in Oakland schools continue to decline.
The Oakland Fund for Children and Youth was created in 1996 when voters passed Measure K. The idea was to increase the amount of money spent on youth programming by the City of Oakland. Measure K sets a baseline amount of the portion of the City’s budget that must be spent on youth programming within the City, such as parks, libraries. This is currently about $21 million per year. Another 2.5 percent of the City’s unrestricted General Fund revenues, or about $10 million per year, is set aside for the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth , which distributes the money in the form of grants to programs that provide youth services such as after school, early childhood, and youth leadership programs.
The goals outlined by the measure are vague - programs funded by the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth are supposed to “help young people grow to become healthy, productive, and honorable adults.” City Hall awards grants to a variety of programs in amounts ranging from $45,000 to $200,000 annually. In the most recent fiscal year,138 programs received grants.
These programs are largely responsible for evaluating themselves. The primary metrics for evaluation involve whether the organization delivered the number of service hours they were contracted to, the number of hours of service they provided, and the cost per customer.
The largely unanswered question, however, is whether these programs are actually doing anything for the kids they serve, or benefiting the Oakland citizens who pay for it. Program outcomes are measured loosely, based on surveys administered to program participants, in which the participants are asked to respond positively or negatively to a series of statements that begin “Because of this program...”
Programs vary widely in the number of returned surveys. In some cases, programs with as many as 800 total participants have their effectiveness levels measured by less than 60 youth filling out surveys.
Programs from last year’s evaluation that received high marks from evaulators boasted outcomes such as 40 percent of participating youth agree, “Because of this program, I practice safely crossing the streets and riding the bus or BART,” 93 percent of participants agree “Because of this program, my sense of belonging is better,” 57 percent “Because of this program, my desire to avoid crime and jail is better,” 57 percent of participants agree “Because of this program, my involvement with other community organizations and groups is better,” and 33 percent of participants agree “Because of this program, my success at school is better.”
Measure K expires in 2008, but it included an option that would allow it to be renewed by a majority vote of the City Council, which the Council passed last April, extending Measure K through 2021. When the Council approved the extension, a group calling themselves the Kids First! Coalition insisted that the funding provided to the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth was insufficient, and asked the Council for $15 million more. The City Council rejected the request, calling it irresponsible and saying that the extra money would threaten parks, libraries, and senior programs.
The coalition then decided to take their request to the voters, gathering 45,000 signatures to place a measure on the November ballot that would change the set-aside for the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth from 2.5 percent of unrestricted General Fund revenues (roughly $10 million) to 1.5 percent of total annual City revenues ($28 million). In response to the petition, Councilmembers Quan, Nancy Nadel, and Pat Kernighan, have now called a special meeting of the City Council for Tuesday morning.
Ms. Quan will propose placing a comprise measure on the ballot that would significantly increase City funding for the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, but by a smaller amount than the citizen-submitted measure. Ms. Quan’s proposal would incrementally raise the amount of unrestricted General Fund revenues set aside for these programs from 2.5 percent currently to 5 percent after seven years, from $10 million currently to $23 million by 2015.
Supporters of the increase claim that additional funds are needed to provide comprehensive after-school supportive services for students at Oakland’s many elementary, middle, and high schools. But vague evaluations of the effects of currently funded programs, combined with a declining student population and a truancy rate that has nearly doubled in recent years, rising from 28 percent in 2004-05 to 50 percent in 2006-07, raise serious questions about the value of the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth. |
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