Sean C. Morgan
School District 55’s proposed budget for 2004-05 will maintain current service levels and include small restorations from reductions last year.
The District 55 Budget Committee met on April 28 to receive the proposed budget and budget message from Supt. Larry Horton.
The legislature set a statewide funding level of $5.2 billion each year of the 2003-05 biennium. With the failure of Measure 30, to balance off lost revenue, the statewide funding level for 2004-05 is $4.4 billion.
In 2003-04, the current fiscal year, the district budgeted as if the statewide funding were at the $4.8 billion figure and saved the additional state funding from the 2003-04 year as part of its carryover.
That carryover will maintain a consistent funding level going into the new fiscal year, beginning July 1.
“Although we are recommending holding the line on staffing and programs for the 2004-05 school year, one must keep in mind that the district lost six teachers, one administrator and six support staff in the 2003-04 school year,” Supt. Horton said. “Prior to this, the district closed one school, eliminated the elementary music program, eliminated most electives at the junior high school and cut drafting and computer assisted drafting at the high school.”
Recommendations in the 2004-05 budget are slightly better than last year’s, Supt. Horton said. “However they are in no way supportive of the high quality educational program we would like to offer our students.”
While the district will make few changes from the current year, Supt. Horton said, “if the financial picture does not improve, I will not be able to say the same in the 2005-06 school year. I keep hearing the economy is improving. When I look at the number of students on the free and reduced lunch program, I have to ask when we will see these improvements.
“As I listen to the east Linn County unemployment figures, I wonder when will our families see the new jobs? Things are still tight in Sweet Home, but if there’s one thing I have learned in my short time here in Sweet Home, the community pulls together when things get tight.”
The proposed 2004-05 budget total is $24.7 million, down from last year’s with bond expenditures on the high school and high school gym.
The eneral fund is proposed at $15.7 million, up from 2003-04, $14.8 million, because of the carryover from the statewide $5.2 billion funding level payments during the year.
The $2.35 million carryover from 2003-04 will decrease to an estimated $725,000, about 5 percent, following unsettled budget issues, such as labor negotiations.
The district’s revenue from the state declines from $14 million this year to $13 million in next year’s budget.
Issues that may affect the budget still, include labor negotiations with classified and administrative personnel. Negotiations with classified staff began on April 29.
The actual ending fund balance will not be certain until completion of the 2004-04 audit in November, Supt. Horton said. The budget proposal also assumes revenue projections remain the same.
“There remains a great deal of uncertainty surrounding … the Public Employees Retirement System,” Supt. Horton said. “The legislators made several significant changes to this system in this past year. Employee groups have challenged many of these changes in the court system. These changes make hundreds of thousands of dollars difference to our budget.
“This budget presented tonight represents a middle-of-the-road belief. It represents the average of the best- and worst-case scenarios.”