FY 2026-27 Proposed Midcycle Budget

COMPLIANCE WITH KEY VOTER APPROVED MEASURES Kid's First Charter Amendment & OFCY (Fund 1780) The Kids First Charter Amendment was first established in 1996 to create a separate fund exclusively dedicated to supporting Oakland’s youth and children with programming and services so they can grow to become healthy and productive adults. The Kids First Charter Amendment requires that 3% of the City’s unrestricted General Purpose Fund revenues be set aside in a separate fund (1780) every year.   The law requires that 90% of the Kids First funds to be used for eligible services for youth and children. No more than 10% can be used for administrative overhead, grant management, strategic planning, or third-party evaluation.   As a part of managing the Kids First fund, the City indicates the budget for fund 1780 in the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Once the General Purpose Fund’s revenues are audited, the City then applies a “true-up” to the Adopted Budget based on what the City received in terms of actuals for its revenue from that prior fiscal year. This “true-up” can either be positive or negative, depending on if the budgeted amount was higher or lower than the actuals in General Purpose Fund Revenue.   For FY 2026-27, the Kids First Budget is $ 23,266,802 .    Below is how the Kids First calculation was made: Base Spending Requirement The City must spend an amount, at least equal to 5.35 percent of the City’s General Purpose Fund expenditures, excluding the Fund’s monies, on other programs related to children and youth. This percentage represents the level of funding for children and youth services in Fiscal Year (FY) 1995-96, when measure was initially established. Expenditures that can be counted towards the baseline spending requirement include programs such as Head Start, library tutoring, mentoring, and after school recreational activities. The funding for these children and youth services must come from sources other than the Kids First! Fund.   For FY 2026-27, 5.35 percent of the budgeted GPF expenditures is $43.5 million in FY 2026-27. The proposed budget exceeds this threshold, allocating $81.0 million in FY 2026-27:   Head Start expenditures are budgeted at $25.5 million in FY 2026-27. Library expenditures for teen and children’s services are budgeted at $1.4 million in FY 2026-27. Parks and Recreation expenditures for recreation centers and youth sports are budgeted at $8.4 million FY 2026-27. Measure AA expenditures for early childhood education and youth services to increase college enrollment and college graduation rates are budgeted at $45.7 million in FY 2026-27.   81