The Sweet Home School Board officially approved the district’s roughly $68.8 million budget for 2025-26 at its monthly meeting Monday, June 9.
But the meeting was about a lot more than that.
Board members, administrators and a teacher reflected the district’s response to the recent swatting attack and on how students are responding to efforts to provide them with educational opportunities.
The $68,781,612 budget approved unanimously by board members Mike Adams, Jim Gourley, Dale Keene, Mary Massey, Floyd Neuschwander and Jason Redick, includes a $38,744,352 General Fund, which is the district’s actual operating budget.
The budget approval resolution adopted by the board includes the imposition of a $5.0057-per-$1,000 of assessed property value tax to fund the school district operations and 30 cents-per-$1,000 to fund the community swimming pool, both taxes already being paid by local property owners. In making a motion to approve the budget, Gourley reminded his fellow council members that it was part of the process of approving the budget to re-instate those taxes.
Responding to a question from Neuschwander about the approximately $4.5 million difference between the 2024-25 General Fund ($34,217,472) and the upcoming General Fund ($38,744,352), Business Manager Kevin Strong explained that the $34 million figure does not include the district’s operating contingency – what he called “essentially a shock absorber,” a financial cushion or reserve set aside to cover unexpected expenses that may arise during the fiscal year – which is $3,356,977 for 2025-26.
“That’s money that we planned not to spend and to have to carry over into the 2026-27 fiscal year,” Strong said.
He said the remainder of the budget, the part of the $68.8 million total that is not General Fund money, is special revenue funds and service funds – money set aside for savings, for future uses such as long-term maintenance, for upcoming PERS rate increases, and money that is counted more than once when it is transferred from one fund to another.
“By no means is that ($68.8 million) a number that represents money that we plan to spend,” Strong said.
He said that the district anticipates receiving more money per student from the state next year but, due to a decline in student numbers, expects to receive less money overall. Also, he said, PERS rates will increase “substantially.”
Successful Planning
The other major topic of discussion was launched by certified union President Steve Thorpe, who delivered an end-of-the-year report to the board.
Thorpe praised administrators for their handling of what he called “two serious, serious situations,” one early in the school year in which a student threatened in a video to bring a gun to school and “this last, what do you call this swat thing?” he said, referring to the spurious call to police incident that interrupted a unified kickball tournament at Husky Field on May 28 that involved teams of students from multiple school districts.
District staff were able to usher students off of the field and out of the stadium in less than two minutes as police investigated the report of a shooting across the street from the stadium, which later proved spurious.
“I really think it’s important for you to understand the work that our high school administration did, that Terry did,” Thorpe told board members. “There was planning,” he added, giving examples of administrators who were directing the response to the May 28 incident.
He also reported that a “pretty incredible” graduation ceremony went off virtually trouble-free on June 6, acknowledging that there were a lot of contributors to that effort.
Thorpe also congratulated the SAFE party planners for putting on the event that keeps graduates off the streets following the ceremony with an all-night celebration including a wide variety of games, giveaways and cash awards.
He noted that graduates who skipped the event or left early missed out on “a pretty good deal.”
“I guess they found out you don’t miss that.”
It was a pretty cool celebration and it makes me grateful to be part of what we’re doing here at our school.
He and Supt. Terry Martin noted that 25 students graduated early this year.
Thorpe said that high school staffers have adopted a practice of “let’s meet them where they’re at, let’s get them to a place, and, whether they like it or not, and whether their mommies and daddies or whoever doesn’t like what we’re doing, they’re leaving with a diploma and with something they will have for the rest of their life.”
He also complimented Athletic Director Dan Tow, who is finishing his 35th year in education this year, for “doing a great job and he’s an incredible athletic director.”
Redick said he appreciated how Thorpe “represents Sweet Home, noting that one of his co-workers, whose sons wrestle for Thurston High School, told Redick he appreciated how much Thorpe had helped his sons out in the wrestling program. One is moving on to wrestle in college and, Redick said, “They attribute a lot of that back to you and your help.”
“You reflect well on Sweet Home,” Redick said.
Martin reported that 163 students graduated in the ceremony.
“It was warm but it was a good event,” he said.
Selling the District
In his superintendent’s report, Martin said the district lost one student in the past month, but cautioned board members that “unlike in the ‘Price is Right,’ where you have the mountain climber going up, we have had the mountain climber on the opposite side, doing the descent.”
“We are still down a lot of students,” he said, adding that he has asked administrators and school principals to “continue to market the things going on in Sweet Home.”
“Something we’re really going to continue to have to do is market the things we do have, because if people who are sitting out, reading Facebook, they’re seeing all sorts of negative stuff.
“But if folks take the time to get involved and see what is really happening, there’s a real divergence in the school story right now in that parents are not very appreciative of what’s happening in our students,” Martin said. “But yet, you talk with students about what’s going on, students feel safe, they feel valued, they appreciate their teachers and the opportunities they do have at school.
“And so,” Martin added, “we’re going to have to work on that, all of us, because there’s a tremendous amount of good things to be proud of here in Sweet Home and if we let social media tell the story, it’s going to be a really negative story.”
Strong also reminded the board that decreasing enrollment means decreased revenue.
“Enrollment equals revenue,” he said, picking up on Martin’s point: “There are lots of good things happening in the Sweet Home School District. Hopefully we can encourage parents to choose Sweet Home.”
Strong presented a financial report, stating that the district’s revenues are in good shape, even though some accounts are over budget.
“But we’re on track to be well under the overall total, well under in expenditures,” he said. \
He told board members that a large portion of the district’s expenditures will occur this month, as teachers get paid for the three months of summer.
“We’ve been essentially deferring the amount they receive in paychecks,” Strong said. “So we will have a lot of money going out the door.”
Good-Byes, Hellos and More
Martin presented Redick with a plaque commemorating his 20 years of service on the School Board and noted that board members Jim Gourley (eight years) and Sarah Hoffman (four years) are stepping down.
He also called attention to the departure of Foster interim principal Lisa Latham, who stepped in at the school “at a time when we sorely needed her and she has absolutely been aces out at Foster.”
Redick thanked “absolutely everybody I’ve served on this board with” and thanked voters “for allowing me to serve.”
“It’s been contentious at times, but overall, this board has always done what’s right by the kids.”
That, he said, needs to be the focus of the next board: “Everybody comes and wants to push whatever it is they feel most strongly about, but the ones with the most to lose are the kids. So that has to be the primary focus.”
Martin said the board’s July meeting would be “a big one” as the newly elected members, along with those ongoing, will be going through the district’s list of vendors “and there are a lot of folks we work with,” citing examples such as the Hungerford law firm of Portland, which provides legal counsel to the district, and gLas architects of Eugene, which has done design work on several district school facilities.
“It’s going to be drinking from the fire hose, that’s a lot of information coming at you right away,” he said.
In other action, the board:
- Approved the hiring of Kayla Lopez to teach social studies at the high school for the upcoming year.
- Approved the hire of Jesse Nelson to teach science at the junior high for the upcoming year.
- Approved the hire of Thomas Love to teach art at the high school for the upcoming year.