The Oakland Education Association (OEA) is the teachers’ union representing teachers in the Oakland Unified School District in Oakland, California. ¹ It is part of the California Teachers Association (CTA), which is the largest state affiliate of the left-of-center National Education Association (NEA) and the largest teachers’ union in California. ² It claims to represent nearly 3,000 teachers, librarians, healthcare workers, and other professional staff. ³

The OEA uses its power, including strikes and other labor actions, to advance left-of-center public policies including reparations for slavery and the elimination of the Oakland Unified School District police department, as well as to promote a Palestinian nationalist and anti-Israel position on the Israel-Hamas conflicts following the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks. ⁴

Policy Advocacy

District Police Department

The Oakland Education Association supported the Oakland Unified School District’s passage of a “George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Police Department,” created by the left-wing, Oakland-based Black Organizing Project. ⁵

Under the plan, the 10 sworn officers of the OUSD’s police department would be eliminated, and the 47 unarmed school security officers would be “retrained to mediate conflicts using restorative justice practices and to build relationships with students.” ⁶ Some teachers and staff criticized the plan, which would see schools call the Oakland Police Department for armed officers to respond to violent crime or potentially deadly situations such as school shooters or bomb threats. ⁶

At the OEA’s urging, the OUSD implemented a “Black Sanctuary Pledge” that all teachers and staff were asked to sign, saying “I pledge not to call police, ICE, or Homeland Security on Black and brown students for nonviolent issues.” ⁶

Support for Reparations

The OEA supported the Reparations for Black Students campaign targeting the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) that called for “a multi-million dollar reparations fund,” the creation of “police-free schools,” and other left-of-center policy proposals. ^{7 4} The campaign also called for the California Attorney General to investigate the OUSD’s process for closing old or under-utilized schools to identify whether “anti-Black racism” informed those decisions. ⁴

In 2021, the OUSD Board of Education passed a “Reparation for Black Students Resolution” that blamed racism for the changing ethnic makeup of Oakland’s schools. ⁷ It created an emergency rent fund for the families of Black students and gave Black students the highest priority in the district’s distribution of computers and networking equipment on an ongoing basis “to close the Black digital divide.” ⁷

Anti-Semitism and Palestinian Nationalism

The Oakland Education Association has engaged in advocacy supporting Palestinian nationalism and opposing Israel. In October 2023, the OEA posted messages on its social media platforms that called for “an end to the occupation of Palestine” while describing Israel as “an apartheid state” that used “genocidal rhetoric and policies against the people of Palestine.” ⁸ While the posts were later taken down or amended, a week later the OEA passed a resolution using much of the same language. ⁹

In December 2023, OEA members held an unsanctioned “Teach-In for Gaza” in classes across the district using teaching materials and student assignments prepared with the assistance of anti-Israel and Palestinian nationalist groups including the Middle East Children’s Alliance “Teach Palestine” program, Palestinian Youth Movement USA, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Black Alliance for Peace. ¹⁰ The materials described Hamas as “an Islamist political group focused on Palestinian liberation,” noting that it is “considered a terrorist group by the USA, the EU, Canada, Australia, Paraguay and Israel.” ¹⁰ This description did not account for Hamas’s militant wing, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by numerous other countries and international organizations. ¹¹

OEA official statements and OEA members’ anti-Israel rhetoric became so heated that the San Francisco Chronicle reported Jewish families were “fleeing” Oakland Unified School District schools because they felt uncomfortable or unsafe due to a perceived rise in “anti-Israel sentiments among teachers and staff.” ¹²

In January 2024, the United States Department of Education opened an investigation into the OUSD for “discrimination involving shared ancestry” under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. ¹³ That investigation was still open as of June 2025. ¹⁴

Labor Activism

COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oakland Education Association pressured Oakland Unified School District into implementing safety procedures that went beyond state and federal guidelines, using work slowdowns and other disruptive actions to force the district into acceding to their demands. ^{15 16}

In July 2021, two OEA representatives wrote a column for the pro-labor union site Labor Notes titled, “How Oakland Teachers Took Control of Our Return to School.” ¹⁵ In it, they bragged about pressuring the school district into accepting the union’s demands for COVID-19 safety precautions that went beyond state and federal guidelines. “The optics of interfering with our rights would have been a public relations disaster far worse than any unfair labor practice award,” they wrote. ¹⁵

After months of resistance from the OEA to reopening schools for the 2020-21 school year the district and union finally reached an agreement to begin limited reopening of classrooms in the beginning of April 2021, by which point between 40 and 50% of fourth graders across the country had returned to full-time, in-person learning. ^{17 18}

The OEA’s push for maximalist safety measures continued into the 2021-22 school year, where it continued to call for full masking of students and staff, mandatory weekly COVID testing for all students and staff, and expanded sick days for staff. ¹⁹ In January 2022, OEA teachers and staff held a one-day “sick-out” to pressure the district to continue mandating masks and testing. ²⁰ During this time OEA members also reportedly engaged in a “work to rule” slowdown where they did not meet with students outside of official classes in order to increase pressure on the district. ¹⁶

2023 Strike

Along with other California Teachers Association local unions, the OEA used contract negotiations in the early 2020s to push for left-wing public policies with largely tangential connections to the teacher-school employment relationship under the banner of “common good.” ²¹ In 2023, the OEA went out on strike to pressure the district to accede to contract demands that included changes to community school governance, student mental health programs, housing for homeless students, gun control, and other issues. OUSD’s president criticized the OEA for staying out on strike over those issues after negotiations had largely concluded on standard compensation terms, saying “While we agree on the principles of the [common good] proposals, they simply do not belong in the contract language.” ²¹

2024 Strike

On May 1, 2024, the OEA held a one-day strike to pressure the school district during upcoming contract negotiations. ²² The district filed a complaint with the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), saying the strike was “pre-impasse” and therefore illegal under California labor law. ²³

While a PERB administrative law judge originally ruled in favor of the district, on appeal the full Board overturned the judge and ruled that the strike was legal as it was at least partially in response to the district’s technical labor law violation when it failed to provide the union with sufficient formal notice of a school closure. ²³

1. Oakland Education Association. Accessed June 29, 2025. https://oaklandea.org/.
2. Freedberg, Louis. “California Teachers Association Loses Thousands of Members after Faculty Association Decides to ‘Disaffiliate’.” EdSource. EdSource, August 1, 2019. https://edsource.org/2019/california-teachers-association-loses-thousands-of-members-after-faculty-association-decides-to-disaffiliate.
3. “About Oea.” Oakland Education Association. Accessed June 29, 2025. https://oaklandea.org/about-oea/.
4.  Reparations for Black Students. Accessed June 29, 2025. https://reparationsforblackstudents.org/.
5. “George Floyd Resolution.” Black Organizing Project. Accessed June 29, 2025. https://blackorganizingproject.org/george-floyd-resolution/.
6. Getachew, Samuel. “Oakland Eliminated Its School Police Force-so What Happens Now?” KQED, September 19, 2024. https://www.kqed.org/arts/13893831/oakland-eliminated-its-school-police-force-so-what-happens-now
7. “Reparations for Black Students.” Oakland Education Association. Accessed June 29, 2025. https://oaklandea.org/oea-resources-for-corona-virus-covid-19/.
8. Fernandez, Lisa. “Oakland Teachers Union Creates Massive Rift over Statement Regarding Israel and Palestine.” KTVU FOX2, October 31, 2023. https://www.ktvu.com/news/oakland-teachers-union-create-massive-rift-over-statement-regarding-israel-and-palestine.
9. Lee, Amber. “Oakland Teachers Union Passes Controversial Resolution Supporting Palestinian Liberation.” KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco, November 7, 2023. https://www.ktvu.com/news/oakland-teachers-union-passes-controversial-resolution-supporting-palestinian-liberation.
10. “Oakland Unified School District Emails Reveal ‘Teach-in for Gaza’ Materials Featured pro-Hamas, Anti-Israel Content.” Defending Education, October 8, 2024. https://defendinged.org/incidents/oakland-unified-school-district-emails-reveal-teach-in-for-gaza-materials-featured-pro-hamas-anti-israel-content/.
11. “35-Country Pan-American Group Designates Hamas a Terrorist Organization.” The Times of Israel, May 20, 2021. https://www.timesofisrael.com/35-country-pan-american-group-designates-hamas-a-terrorist-organization/.
12. Tucker, Jill. “Number of Families Fleeing Oakland Schools Is Spiking.” San Francisco Chronicle, January 17, 2024. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/ousd-oakland-schools-students-18610733.php.
13. Baker, Alex. “Oakland School District under Federal Investigation For Discrimination.” KRON-TV, January 19, 2024. https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/oakland-school-district-under-federal-investigation-for-discrimination/.
14. “List of Open Title VI Shared Ancestry Investigations.” U.S. Department of Education. Accessed June 29, 2025. https://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/sharedancestry-list.
15. Green, John, and Shelby Ziesling. “How Oakland Teachers Took Control of Our Return to School.” Labor Notes, July 26, 2021. https://labornotes.org/2021/07/how-oakland-teachers-took-control-our-return-school.
16. Haber, Zack. “Oakland High Teachers ‘work to Rule’ for Covid Safety.” Medium, January 20, 2022. https://zackhaber.medium.com/oakland-high-teachers-work-to-rule-for-covid-safety-ad3c1330362.
17. ^[1] McBride, Ashley. “Oakland Unified and Teachers’ Union Reach Tentative Deal to Reopen Schools.” The Oaklandside, March 15, 2021. https://oaklandside.org/2021/03/15/oakland-unified-and-teachers-union-reach-tentative-deal-to-reopen-schools/.
18. Merod, Anna, and Kara Arundel. “As National Covid-19 Emergency Ends, a Look Back on the Virus’ Impact on Schools.” K, May 11, 2023. https://www.k12dive.com/news/national-emergency-ends-COVID-19-timeline/650009/.
19. ^[1] “OUSD Management Continues to Ignore Staff’s Covid Safety Demands.” SEIU 1021, April 4, 2018. https://www.seiu1021.org/post/ousd-management-continues-ignore-staffs-covid-safety-demands.
20. McBride, Ashley. “Oakland Teachers Plan ‘Sickout’ Protest as Omicron Cases Surge.” The Oaklandside, January 7, 2022. https://oaklandside.org/2022/01/06/oakland-teachers-plan-sickout-protest-as-omicron-cases-surge/.
21. Epstein, Ken. “Oakland Teachers Strike Continues over Wages, ‘Common Good’ Demands for Needs of Parents, Students.” Post News Group, May 14, 2023. https://www.postnewsgroup.com/oakland-teachers-strike-continues-over-wages-common-good-demands-for-needs-of-parents-students/.
22. McBride, Ashley. “Oakland Teachers Plan to Strike May 1.” The Oaklandside, April 29, 2025. https://oaklandside.org/2025/04/29/oakland-teachers-strike-may-day/.
23. “Decision 2906E – * * * JUDICIAL APPEAL PENDING * * * Oakland Unified School District.” California Public Employment Relations Board, August 6, 2024. https://perb.ca.gov/decision/2906e/.