Funding prospects for School District 55 remain up in the air with the State of Oregon’s budget shortfall, but officials hope that cash carryover from 2000-01 will help curb the impacts on the district next year.
“We’re uncertain,” Supt. Bill Hampton said. “We have some cash carryover will help.”
The district is facing an estimated $450,000 to $500,000 shortfall in funding next year. The cash carryover may help the district maintain service levels in 2002-03.
“We think we’re going to be okay, but that state loss is concerning us,” Supt. Hampton said. Normally, the second year of a biennium doesn’t have the uncertainty that comes at the beginning of the biennium when the budget is crafted.
Funding for next year will depend on a May 21 election. Ballot measures will ask voters whether to spend up to $220 million on education from the lottery education endowment fund.
That means revenue projections for creating the 2002-03 budget are unknown, Supt. Hampton said. With the uncertainty, the district could face a shortfall of even more than a half million dollars.
“It’s a mess right now,” Supt. Hampton said. “It’s convoluted. It’s not well understood.”
District 55 is trying to budget based on what its needs are, Supt. Hampton said. That is a figure that can be calculated. The unknown will remain the resource side.
The cash carryover from 2000-01 may help erase shortfalls if it can survive the current 2001-02 budget year. The district had about $600,000 coming into the current budget year.
Much of that carryover was generated by budget cuts last year, Supt. Hampton said. Those cuts were necessary to match declining enrollment in the district over the last couple of years.
“The cuts have been real deep in this district,” Supt. Hampton said. The district has lost a number of programs, including music. The high school track, at one time in district history, could have been repaired without difficulty. Now, individuals are working on raising the funds outside the district.
This year, the district will make it, Supt. Hampton said. Whether the district must make cuts next year depends largely on how that carryover fares this year.
“It’s a cloudy picture right now,” Supt. Hampton said. “Even when we put the budget together (in March and April)… it’s still not going to be clear. We’ll build a budget on our best shot on our best estimates.”
People are asking Supt. Hampton whether this is the toughest year he has faced in putting a budget together, he said. “It’s equally a difficult year as I’ve ever had to figure out what the state’s going to give us.”