Rachel Latta
Oakland Unified Board of Education District 1
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Rachel Latta is a member of the Oakland Unified Board of Education in California, representing District 1. She assumed office on January 6, 2025. Her current term ends on January 8, 2029.
Latta ran for election to the Oakland Unified Board of Education to represent District 1 in California. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Latta completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Rachel Latta was born in San Francisco, California. She earned a high school diploma from Miramonte High School, a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington in 2005, a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington in 2009, and a degree from the University of Washington in 2013. Latta's career experience includes working as a nurse midwife, transplant/cardiac nurse, medical assistant, and organizer. As of 2024, Latta was affiliated with Equity Allies for OUSD and Integrated Schools.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Oakland Unified School District, California, elections (2024)
General election
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There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
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Total votes: 28,960
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 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. |
Endorsements
To view Latta's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Latta in this election.
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Rachel Latta completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Latta's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I'm a Bay Area native and 11-year resident of District 1. I’ve devoted my life to helping others, especially those furthest from opportunity. I grew up in an immigrant family, was raised in a union household and am now a nurse midwife at a community clinic, providing the best possible health care to help immigrant families navigate becoming parents. When not working as a nurse midwife or keeping up with my 3 incredible children, I’m an enthusiastic parent advocate who believes public schools serving all children well are not just places where children learn, but also community centers that strengthen and revitalize neighborhoods. My advocacy within OUSD began as soon as my daughter was applying for kindergarten, I joined a parent group called “Equity Allies for OUSD” which was committed to addressing systemic inequities in our schools and empowering individuals to create change. For the last 8 years I have worked across OUSD on campaigns to restore the Supper program for vulnerable students, to feed students who depended on OUSD meals during the 2019 Teachers’ strike, to create an “Equity Fund” to provide additional funding for the most stressed OUSD schools, to give 16 & 17-year olds the right to vote for school board and to support expanded restorative justice programs in Oakland schools. I was also a member of the OUSD Superintendent’s Equitable Enrollment Committee, and a site liaison for a statewide campaign to increase education funding, Proposition 15.
- Fight for equity and academic excellence for every student in every school. That means creating strong public schools and holding charter schools accountable for serving all students. OUSD needs to attract and retain students - this is how we make the district sustainable. I will promote increased enrollment in an equitable way while making the structural changes needed to help our schools grow and thrive. I will also hold charter schools accountable for serving all students well, including disabled students, foster youth, unhoused students and English learners.
- Ensure sound fiscal practices while making OUSD’s budget more equitable and transparent. Oakland is a city committed to equity, however OUSD has often fallen short of staying focused on this principle. Past mistakes include inequitable allocations of resources that have hurt school performance and triggered a downward spiral of enrollment, and loose oversight of spending habits, creating unanticipated deficits. I will be a watchdog over our budget and a champion for equity in our schools. Improve community engagement with parents and other community members. OUSD is a community school district, but often the community is left out of important decisions. I will create space for impacted groups to participate in the budget process.
- Work to recruit and retain the best teachers and staff. Teachers and all staff who work directly with our students should be well-paid and feel supported by the district to bring stability to the classroom and ensure a more enriching education for students. Rachel will engage in ongoing, open dialogue with all union partners to ensure that we build trust and communication before bargaining to make negotiations successful. Employee retention is key to student success, which means strong union contracts are good policy.
I am running for the Oakland School Board to bring the voice of Oakland parents and caregivers to the board. As a parent of three children, two attending Oakland Unified School District (“OUSD”) schools and a third still in daycare, bringing out the best in Oakland public schools is my personal passion. I will focus on equitable allocation of district resources to ensure every child has what they need to thrive academically and socially. I will push for an enrollment system that is easier to navigate and fairer. I will work in partnership with our teachers and staff to ensure every classroom and every school is fully staffed with amazing educators who can afford to live in Oakland.
The School Board's primary responsibility is approving a responsible, equitable budget. OUSD is a community school district, but often the community is left out of important decisions in favor of a top down, paternalistic decision making. I will work to make sure that budgets reflect our community values, and that all OUSD decisions are more transparent and vetted by the public, with ample time before important decisions for the community to review and propose improvements to plans. We are stronger when we are working in partnership with our students, families, educators and staff.
The first historical event I remember was the AIDS epidemic - I was probably first conscious of it when I was 5 years old. We had many family friends who contracted HIV and developed AIDS and some who died. I remember watching several close family friends dying of AIDS and attended several funerals that I can remember and visited squares on the AIDS memorial quilt. I remember the fear in the area and the feeling that fewer and fewer people were around. My mother and aunt were both nurses in San Francisco caring for people living with HIV and AIDS, people being stereotyped and often spoke about caring for patients who were discriminated against for the perception of being gay and, thus, presumed to be capable of transmitting AIDS to others. They both spoke of the ways that they felt disgusted by their co-workers who they felt should have known better.
Looking back, where now I am a person who discusses and prescribes PEP and PrEP, who cares for HIV+ people during pregnancy and birth who can now avoid transmitting the virus to their children I truly marvel at how far we have come. I also learned from from my mother in particular that as a healthcare provider you make a commitment to your patients and as an abortion provider I take seriously the commitment to ensuring people have access to health care they need and do not support "provider conscience" exceptions to providing healthcare.
OUSD needs to ensure it is fully accessing all funds available for schools, specifically expansion of early childhood education and preK, transitional kindergarten and after school programming. We need to continue to investments we have made in our Enrollment department that have increased enrollment in our middle schools and targeting elementary schools that have had declining enrollment - this serves students and families well AND makes our district more financially sustainable.
We also need to continue to advocate for increased funding at the state and federal level and support Prop 13 reform, which gutted our education funding, to ensure that corporations and the extremely wealthy pay their fair share.
I am proud to be endorsed by the Oakland Education Association, as well as other OUSD worker unions, SEIU 1021, Alameda Labor Council, the Building Trades and others; the AC Dems, Young Dems, Young Latines, APA Caucus, Wellstone, Stonewall, MGO Dem clubs, the majority of the current OUSD Board including outgoing District 1 rep Sam Davis. Other endorsements include City Council member Dan Kalb and City Council district 1 candidate Zac Unger, State Senator Nancy Skinner, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, City Council members Carroll Fife and Nikki Fortunato Bas. As a nurse midwife, I am very honored to have the support of Planned Parenthood Advocates, and progressive orgs Bay Rising Action, ACCE, Oakland Rising Action and the Working Families Party
I was very proud of the way that OUSD pivoted immediately from providing food to students during the school day to ensuring that no child was left hungry by providing meals and groceries for families to pick up, and partnering with local community organizations to deliver food to homes.
I have spent the last 8 years as a parent advocate doing exactly that, building relationships with parents across OUSD. As a board member, I will create space for community engagement outside of board meetings by taking the discussions out to the community, with regular office hours, school site listening sessions and direct outreach to families. I intend to be a regular attendee at school and community events to ensure that I am hearing from as many parents, students, and educators as possible, and bringing those voices with me onto the board.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
External links
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 2, 2024
