The drumbeat of school district budget cuts is adding urgency to education advocates’ efforts to address Oregon funding.
On Monday, superintendents caring for a fifth of Oregon’s students released a video “to tell a story about the future of public education.”
It starts out grim, laying out hundreds of staff reductions in the coming school year. The video ends with the school leaders calling for a better next chapter of greater investment in staff and students.
Legislators and Gov. Tina Kotek are asking what it will take to create a high-quality education system for all Oregon students. OSBA and other education advocates are setting the stage now for potentially transformative bills in the 2025 Legislature.
“Chronic education underfunding affects students from districts large and small across the state,” said Emielle Nischik, OSBA acting executive director. “Students need a chorus of voices to sustain our momentum in asking legislators to address this issue over the next year.”
Rep. Coutney Neron, the Interim House Education Committee chair, is listening. She called school layoffs deeply disheartening and detrimental to school boards’ relationships with their communities.
Neron, who co-chairs a task force studying educators’ salaries, said Oregon needs adequate and sustainable funding, taking into account the widely different local costs and student population challenges.
“We have work to do,” said Neron, D-Wilsonville.
In the video, superintendents Steve Cook of Bend-La Pine, Bret Champion of Medford, Sandy Husk of Portland and Andrea Castañeda of Salem-Keizer said a “crisis” is brewing and ask for help.
“As school districts across the state are preparing to make major budget cuts, we want to help lawmakers and the public understand why this is happening and draw attention to the opportunity to reinforce support for public education in the 2025-27 biennium,” Cook said about the video.
The Legislature allocates the State School Fund amount, the primary source of school funding, in two-year chunks. The next State School Fund will be determined in 2025.
Castañeda said they see a “troubling and escalating pattern” of budget shortfalls.
“As four of the districts facing the most severe early reductions, we felt it was an opportunity — and we have a responsibility — to speak and advocate on behalf of students through Oregon,” she said.
The superintendents in the video represent some of Oregon’s biggest districts, but small and rural schools are hurting too.
Michael Carter, executive director of the Oregon Small Schools Association, said districts of all sizes are cutting back.
Carter, Lake County School District superintendent, said his own district is cutting staff, dropping programs, eliminating middle school sports and raising class sizes.
Oregon is facing the biggest staff reductions since the aftermath of the Great Recession. For many school leaders, this is their first time facing such difficult choices.
While trying to prepare the ground for a better future, OSBA staff are also helping school boards navigate the current landscape. OSBA staff are presenting a webinar Thursday, May 16, on “Preparing for School Staff Reductions in Force.” The webinar will address legal implications, policy considerations, communication practices and the importance of legislative advocacy for increased funding.
The Ashland School District, for instance, is out of reserves and facing a $2.4 million budget cut for 2024-25 and a similar cut in 2025 unless the Legislature significantly raises school funding, said Ashland School Board Chair Rebecca Dyson. The district has around a $40 million general fund budget.
Ashland is cutting about two dozen FTE, nearly half of them teachers. Like most districts facing budget shortfalls, the district has relied heavily on attrition to eliminate positions but there will be layoffs, including teachers.
“We are forced to make really tough choices,” Dyson said. “Our main goal is to maintain everything we can offer for our students.”
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
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