Sean C. Morgan
Following the Oregon Legislature’s special session earlier this month, School District 55 can expect to receive about $360,000 more next school year, 2014-15, than anticipated.
The Sweet Home Charter School will receive some $40,000 in additional funds.
Through House Bill 5101, the legislature appropriated an additional $100 million for K-12 education, said Business Manager Kevin Strong. Sweet Home receives about four-tenths of 1 percent of school funds statewide, which amounts to about $400,000, and about $40,000 of that is transferred to the Charter School.
The legislature indicated it preferred that districts add days back or hire teachers and education professionals with the additional funds, Strong said.
“What it comes down to at this point, the budget outlook for next year is the best it’s been since the recession began in 2008,” Strong said. Whether the spending is sustainable into the following biennium depends on the economy.
School funding in Oregon is depends on the income tax, he said. “As Oregon’s economy goes, so goes school funding. We have to keep alert to what happens to Oregon’s economy.”
The district and board will look at bringing back teachers and reducing class sizes, said Supt. Don Schrader, and they’ll revisit the four-day week issue.
The reason the district went to a four-day week was to save money, Schrader said. “Obviously, if the budget can sustain it, and we can continue the professional development we have, I’d love to take a look at it.”
But he remains cautious looking forward.
Back in the 2005-07 biennium, the state provided additional funds in “school improvement funds,” Schrader said. Superintendents across the state were told the money wouldn’t be going away after the first year. At Glide, where he was superintendent, the district started programs based on that information, and the money was pulled the next year.
“There’s a lot of programs I’d love to bring back,” Schrader said. He would love to see a music specialist in the elementary schools.
Sweet Home board members are concerned about and will want to address elementary school class sizes, some of which reach 30 or a little higher, Schrader said. At least one board member wants to look at the four-day schedule.
One board member has asked him to find information about how other districts with four-day weeks have fared, he said, and Schrader will start collecting those districts’ report cards and assessment scores to see what’s happened.
He noted that Coos Bay has returned to a five-day week, while Harrisburg is in its third year of a four-day week.
Changing the schedule will require a lot of discussion, public input and contract negotiations with the unions, Schrader said, and the process will need to start soon if changes are to be made by the time the schedule is set in the spring.
He will talk to the board during its meeting on Nov. 4 about setting a work session if the members are interested, he said. In the meantime, he’s collecting data.
While planning how to spend the new revenue next year, uncertainty remains about the long term.
Court decisions about the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System will impact rates the district pays to fund PERS, and that’s something district officials must keep in mind in the future, Strong said.
Senate Bill 861 reduced the annual cost-of living adjustment for PERS retirees, Strong said. Retirees will receive a 1.25-percent cost-of-living adjustment up to $60,000 per year. Beyond $60,000, they will receive a .15-percent increase.
The bill reduces the PERS unfunded liability from about $14 billion to $9.5 billion, Strong said. Legal challenges are already under way, and a decision from the Oregon Supreme Court could be a year out.
PERS is definitely a variable, Strong said. Even with the reductions in the PERS cost-of-living adjustment, the districts have been told to expect an increase in PERS rates anyway, although it will be smaller than anticipated.
“All it is doing is reducing the size of the increase that we’re being told will occur in the 2015-17 biennium,” Strong said. “If the litigation is successful, school districts across the state will be facing a Grand Canyon-sized budget hole due to PERS.”
Other variables coming up after the 2014-15 school year include kindergarten.
“We know that right now, in 2015 the plan is to add all-day kindergarten,” Strong said. The state school formula will change and weigh kindergarten students as all-day students, and that’s something to keep in mind moving ahead.
“As the past has shown, state school funding is a roller coaster because it’s so dependent on income tax revenue,” Strong said, but “right now, overall, the economy appears much healthier than it did four years ago. Right now, my hope is that continues.”