After more than six years of running Oakland schools, the state Department of Education will finally return local control to the district today. The long-awaited move by State Superintendent Jack O’Connell comes nearly seven months after state auditors recommended it. Oakland’s locally elected school board will now have full authority over nearly all aspects of the district for the first time since the state took over in June 2003. The state, however, will maintain veto power over all financial decisions for years to come, because the district still owes about $80 million to the state from its original $100 million loan.
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