OAKLAND — Oakland Unified School District’s years-long budget crisis was made worse by the opening of two new schools without proper funding in the 2017-18 school year, the Alameda County civil grand jury has concluded.

The district is also operating too many schools than it has money for, the grand jury said in a report

“School occupancy must be assessed and painful decisions made regarding closure and consolidation as soon as possible,” the grand jury listed as a recommendation.

Other failings by district administration and the school board have contributed to the budget crisis, according to the report.

Midway through the 2017-18 school year, the school board ordered $9 million in budget cuts in order for the district to remain fiscally solvent after years of overspending. The grand jury report said the district has been on average $20 million to $30 million in debt for the past 15 years because of overspending on hiring and programs, and operating nearly twice as many schools than it should be given its enrollment numbers.

The school board members and district decision-makers behind those decisions were not held accountable and are not trusted by the public, the report issued Tuesday said. High teacher and administration turnover also has been a factor in the district’s budget woes, according to the report; the district has had five superintendents in the past nine years.

Those problems may be factors in why one in five Oakland public schools score in the bottom five percent in math and English language arts proficiency, the report said.

School board president Aimee Eng issued a statement to this newspaper on Tuesday saying the board will take the report’s findings and recommendations seriously. The board and district administration have 90 days to formally respond to the report.

“As we remain committed to achieving fiscal vitality and stability, it is critical that we receive outside analysis and feedback such as this report and the recently completed (fiscal crisis and management assistance team) report to better inform out work,” Eng said. “We hope the information shared by the grand jury will help guide us on our way towards a sustainable future in which all Oakland’s students receive a high quality education.”

Over the past 15 years, enrollment at Oakland Unified has dropped from about 54,000 to 37,000, resulting in less funding from the state, since school district funding is based on enrollment. But the district still operates as if there has not been a decline in enrollment, the report said, and operates 87 schools with an average school size of 412 students. Fremont Unified School District has a similar student population of 35,000 but only operates 42 schools, the report noted.

Going into the last school year with a $15 million deficit, the district opened two new schools: the School of Languages dual-language middle school and the Rudsdale High School for students at risk of not graduating, the report said.

“Smaller schools may sound enticing, but are a huge financial drain when they are operating in a larger facility at less than capacity,” the report said.

One of the report’s recommendations is that charter and district-run schools collaborate more, since they often share campuses. Administrators of Castlemont High School in East Oakland successfully works with the charter high school it shares a campus with by regularly meeting and having coordinated security and shared participation in sports teams, the report said.

The report also recommends school board members take governance training, “emphasizing that they are policy makers, not day-to-day administrators” and communicate with district officials through the superintendent. Board members have intervened in day-to-day operations on multiple occasions, which resulted in decisions being made without going through the regular budgeting process, the report said.

Oakland Unified also needs to have a more transparent system of informing the school board and the public of the long-term consequences of financial decisions, the report said, and should refrain from hiring new staff or paying for new programs unless the money is available in the budget beforehand.