It's no secret that Oakland public schools are in a serious financial fix.

For years the district has endured shrinking funds from the state, resulting in teacher layoffs, larger classrooms and few resources for students.

Now the schools are pinning their hopes on a possible state tax extension ballot initiative designed to bring in flat funding for California public schools. The ballot measure, if passed, would do little to address the significant budget problems of the district, but without it, Oakland schools will be in a far more precarious position.

How bad is the financial situation for the school district?

According to OUSD, the 2010-11 overall adopted budget reflected cuts of $122 million from the previous year. The districts says that this year, it stands to lose $12.6 million from its unrestricted general fund and could lose as much as $32.5 million, under certain conditions, like the failure of the tax extension measure contained in Gov. Jerry Brown's budget proposal.

While OUSD is not exactly pleased by the Governor's budget proposal, it's "preferable to the disastrous alternatives," OUSD said on its website.

Specifically, Brown calls for a K-12 Proposition 98 funding level of $48.8 billion in both 2010-11 and 2011-12. According to the California Budget Project - a non-partisan Sacramento think tank - the K-12 Proposition 98 spending level is $2 billion above the minimum guarantee in the absence of additional revenue. Even if the tax extension is passed by voters, the school district will still face a $7 million shortfall.

Without the tax extension, the district is looking at a $19 million deficit for the next fiscal year.OUSD School Superintendent Tony Smith said its important for residents to understand the financial problems the district faces.

"Currently, we're being funded at 2005-2006 levels, and I don't think people understand the amount we're funding children hasn't kept pace. So we're actually receiving less and less money every year," Smith said. "So we're still stuck at funding levels six years old and that message has to get out."

The stakes are high for all of California public schools. According to OUSD, if California legislators decide against placing the tax extension measure on the ballot for a June election, or if voters decline to extend the taxes, public schools would lose approximately $2.3 billion, or $330 for each day of student attendance.

The results would mean, significant layoffs of teachers and staff, cuts to classes and school programs, along with potential school closure in districts all across the state, the district said.

California schools can ill afford another budget hit, school advocates argue. California ranks last of all states in staff-to-student ratios and 47th in per-pupil expenditures - providing $2,400 per student less than the national average, according to OUSD. In the last three years, California public schools have seen $18 billion in cuts.

At A Day of Action - a March 2 rally supporting public schools - many speakers told the crowd that they were angry about the decline of public schools and they blamed the state for not going after wealthy corporations.

"When this state was supposedly closing it's budget gap they gave billions of  dollars in corporate tax breaks," said Lewis Cohen, education advisor to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. "And where do those tax breaks come out of? They come out of our schools. It's time for us to find ways to raise the revenues for the the things that matter to this community, this state and this country."

Public school advocates say long term solutions to the state's school funding issue is what's needed in order for Oakland and other school districts to pull out of the cycle of perpetual budget woes.

"Band-Aids are not enough," said Oakland Education Association president Betty Olson-Jones. "We know that in the long run, the only solution is for there to be progressive taxation that takes the corporations and the banks and makes them pay their fair share."