OAKLAND — The Oakland Unified school board plans to cut $15.1 million from its mid-year budget to remain “fiscally solvent” after years of overspending, according to a resolution passed by the board.

To achieve sustainability for the current 2017-18 school year, the district also must allocate $1.2 million just to restore its reserve account to the minimum required to avoid state receivership and bolster it with an additional $7.2 million, increase funding for specific programs by $4.7 million and rebuild its self-insurance fund by $2 million.

The board is expected to decide next month where to make the $15.1 million in cuts.

Speakers urged the board at its Nov. 8 meeting to trim the district’s administrative costs as much as possible to preserve funding for the students. But school board Director Aimee Eng said the schools will likely take a hit.

“As much as we would all love to keep cuts as far away from our schools and school sites … given where we are in the timeline and where unrestricted general dollars are currently sitting, it is unlikely that we’re going to be able to achieve $15.1 million just looking at the central budgets at this point,” Eng said.

Community activist Mike Hutchinson, who has unsuccessfully run for the school board, suggested the board only make the cuts necessary to avoid state receivership for now and prolong the more drastic cuts.

But school board Director Shanthi Gonzales said making the cuts now would save the school district from getting caught in the same bind later.

“Rather than finding out in a horrible way in June or July that we’re short $8 million, let’s actually try to take responsible action now so that we don’t end up in state receivership,” Gonzales said.

The resolution also called for $11.2 million in cuts to the 2018-19 school year budget in order to tuck $5.2 million into the reserves and $6 million into the self-insurance fund.

The cuts follow five years of increased spending and budget fluctuations despite flat attendance and declining enrollment. Since 2013, the school district has spent millions of dollars over budget on professional and consulting services, supervisors and administrators, all the while spending millions less than the budgeted amount on books and supplies.

“We understand that mistakes were made, and we’re very committed to making the changes that need to be made,” school board Director Jody London said.