By Kristine Thomas
Mount Angel Schools Superintendent Bob Young and Silver Falls School District Superintendent Craig Roessler frequently hear rumblings of financial storms about to create havoc on their school districts.
But Young and Roessler were caught off-guard when the state of Oregon announced a $577 million shortfall in the state’s general fund budget in late May.
“The news was totally a surprise,” Young said.
Roessler said he has talked with many superintendents throughout Oregon who told him the financial deficit came as a shock.
“We weren’t ready for this,” Roessler said. “We prepared a status quo budget – keeping things the same. This news that there was a shortfall turned things upside down for us.”
Both Roessler and Young said that by law they can’t spend more than they bring in, which is why they have to make cuts to bring their budgets into balance.
Mount Angel School District
The Mount Angel School District will have to pare $400,000 from its general fund budget of $7.3 million, Young said, adding that is in addition to $347,000 that was previously trimmed due to decreased enrollment.
In the first round of cuts, 1.5 teaching positions were eliminated, Young said.
To stay within the new financial plan, he will use $150,000 from cash reserves; reduce staff by two full-time teachers at the elementary school and one special education assistant; ask certified and classified staff to approve reduction of next year’s schedule by two days and request a 5 percent decrease in supplies and material costs.
“We are doing the best we can with what we are given in funding from the state,” Young said. “My stance has always been whatever funds we are provided with, that we will work with that and try to minimize any impact the budget has on the students.”
Young said he knows enrollment is decreasing with another seven families moving out of Mount Angel – many times due to the local financial climate.
“I don’t see enrollment picking up,” Young said. “We lost about 20 students in the 2009-10 school year and 40 students in the 2008-09 school year. I think it’s because of the economy. I can’t tie it to anything else.”
Oregon’s schools will continue to be on a roller coaster ride as long as state funding is tied to income taxes.
“When there are good years with the economy, things are good and when there are bad times with the economy things are bad,” he said.
Silver Falls School District
The Silver Falls School District approved $26.97 million for its 2010-11 budget based on earlier estimates from the Oregon Department of Education. When the new figures were released in late May, Roessler learned the district will receive $25.43 million – a decrease of $1.5 million or 4.8 percent of the total general fund budget.
To exemplify the reduction’s value, Roessler said $1.5 million is equivalent to the salaries of 20 teachers or the entire general fund budget for all the employees, supplies and materials for Butte Creek School or the combined costs of staffing and operating both Victor Point and Scotts Mills schools.
“This is our new financial reality,” Roessler said. “We now must prepare to adjust to it.”
About 80 percent of the district’s costs are in staff and the remaining 20 percent is in heating, electricity, water, mandated bus transportation, supplies and materials, property and liability insurance and legal fees, he said.
Roessler said the school board could eliminate some of the items that equal 20 percent of the budget, but they know that won’t make up a $1.5 million shortfall.
“The cuts have to come out of personnel side of the budget,” he said.
Roessler said he plans to recommend to the school board at its June 14 meeting to take $500,000 from the district’s reserve fund, which is $3 million. The money had been set aside to pay for upcoming Public Employees Retirement System costs.
Roessler is also recommending to the board to cut six paid, non-instructional days from the certified employees’ contract.
“The district is currently bargaining with teachers on how we are going to adjust the length of the contract year,” Roessler said, adding that teachers must agree to the six days being cut. As of June 11, a decision had not been reached. The school board has the authority to cut classified staff’s and administrators’ days.
By trimming six days of salary for all employees, it would equal $540,000 or about $90,000 a day. Teachers’ salaries equal about $62,000 a day, he said.
To make up for the remaining $460,000 shortfall, Roessler is asking principals to trim their budgets. For example, Silverton High School would have to cut $140,000 as its share.
Roessler knows many teachers already work at their schools on their own time and some are reluctant to have their pay reduced.
“Our goal is to protect instructional days, programs and services to students and employee positions,” Roessler said. “We can only accomplish these goals if there is cooperation and sacrifice across the entire district.”
To bring more stability to Oregon schools, Roessler said he would recommend reducing personal income tax, adding a consumption or sales tax, keeping the property tax were it is and repealing the kicker.
“Nothing will protect you from the downturn in the economy we’ve seen but we need to do something to create a more stable environment for our kids,” he said.
