By Kristine Thomas
The Silver Falls School District may have to eliminate 18 school days or as many as 32 teachers to balance its budget for 2009-10.
How cuts are made will be determined by two factors, said Superintendent Craig Roessler.
The primary factor in creating the budget is knowing how much money the Oregon Legislature will allocate to K-12 schools for the 2009-11 biennium.
The second issue is whether or not classified and licensed employees will agree to freezes in pay and benefits.
While those numbers are unknown, what is certain is the budget committee will have to make difficult decisions to balance the budget as is legally required, Roessler said.
In April, Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo sent a letter to superintendents asking them to develop budgets to “include a range of scenarios from a $5.4 billion State School Fund to a $5.9 billion State School Fund for 2009-11.”
If the state Legislature allocates $5.9 billion for schools for 2009-11, the Silver Falls School District’s budget would be about $26.2 million for the 2009-10.
“We would have to cut eight teaching positions, 13 classified employees and one administrator in that case,” Roessler said.
The worst case scenario would be if the state Legislature allots $5.4 billion, meaning the Silver Falls School District would have to make $1.7 million in cuts for a budget of about $24.5 million, Roessler said. He added $1.7 million in cuts would equate to laying off 32 teachers or eliminating 18 school days.
Roessler said school districts should learn May 15 what the state revenue forecast is and should have direction from the state Legislature by about May 20 on how much it will distribute to schools.
Roessler asked principals to plan for a 10 percent general reduction. Principals in the Silver Falls School District plan the budget for their schools based on figures provided by the district.
When considering where to make cuts, Roessler said the district’s staff and budget committee members are looking at what would have the least impact on students.
“Our goal is to try to avoid a further reduction in staff,” Roessler said. “Placing more people out of work only adds to our state’s and country’s economic problems and it is not good for our students.”
If the state allocates $5.4 billion, Roessler said the district will consider bargaining pay and benefit freezes for all employee groups; a closure of one or two schools, eliminating fifth through eighth grade athletics and decreasing the number of employee contract days, which includes reducing the number of both non-student contact days and student contact days.
“The final response to the revenue shortfall can’t be determined until we know our state funding level for next school year,” he said. “In addition, a number of the strategies we are considering require us to bargain with our teachers’ and classified employee’s associations.”
At the April 27 board work session he recommended closing Monitor School in June and redrawing Butte Creek and Scotts Mills attendance boundaries. Closing the school would not generate significant savings, he said, since the 70 Monitor students would require teachers and support staff be added at their new schools. The district would rent portions of the building to a charter Montessori school and the Willamette ESD.
Roessler said he has been asked many times why money is being spent for items at the Pine Street Campus instead of the funds going to teachers.
It is illegal, Roessler said, to take money from the bond fund – which is designated for building the new high school – and use it for the general fund – which is for the day-to-day operations.
He appreciates all of the district’s employees who agreed to a three-day cut in pay in the 2008-09 school year.
“This reduction in salaries, when coupled with the decision not to make up three snow days this school year, will save about $300,000,” Roessler said.
He said 80 to 85 percent of the district’s costs are for labor and much of the remaining is for transportation and utilities.
“If the funding drops to $5.4 billion, there will be no one solution but a combination of actions that we will need to take to enable us develop a legally required balanced budget,” he said.
