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Eugene, Ore., district budget strategies aired
Feb 10, 2009 (The Register-Guard - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
With nearly five months to go before they have to put a balanced 2009-10 budget to bed -- and with many questions still unanswered -- members of the Eugene School District Budget Committee offered suggestions Monday on ways to chip away at a potentially punishing deficit.
Trimming two or three days from the school year, cutting spending on athletics and extracurricular activities, reducing extra funding to prop up schools with declining enrollment, delaying a scheduled math textbook purchase and closing two or three small elementary schools all landed in the top tier during a voting session using handheld, computerized "clickers."
But Superintendent George Russell said the looming shortfall -- estimated at $21 million, which includes $5 million in cuts that may have to come in the current year -- may well require them to dig much deeper.
He and Susan Fahey, the district's director of financial services, attached price tags to some of the budget-cutting strategies. Closing an elementary school would save between $250,000 and $300,000 a year, for example; cutting a school day, $450,000.
"If it is in fact 21 million dollars, we're not close to figuring out how to resolve that," Russell said.
Like school districts throughout Oregon, Eugene is waiting to see the final version of a massive federal stimulus package making its way through Congress. At one time scheduled to land on President Obama's desk by now, the House-approved proposal has undergone changes in the Senate, with potentially fewer dollars earmarked for schools.
As of Monday, it seemed likely that Eugene would receive at least $3.7 million, with the bulk earmarked for either special education or Title I, a federal program that provides classroom aid at high-poverty schools.
It's also not clear whether Oregon lawmakers will ultimately decide to raid an education stability fund to help schools in the short term, given they may need the money even more in the next couple of years, Russell said.
Russell sounded less than optimistic about how big an infusion either source would provide, and in fact warned that the fiscal crisis could worsen by May, given the economy's continued downward spiral.
"I'm just waiting for the questions," Russell told the silent committee following a lengthy financial presentation. "I'm just wondering if folks are too stunned to react immediately."
The budget committee -- made up of the seven school board members and seven community members -- used the clickers to respond to the same questions posed to the public in a Web-based survey earlier this month, plus a handful more.
Similar themes emerged Monday, with committee members echoing the public's call to try to spare teaching positions -- not just classroom teachers, but also specialists in physical education, music and counseling -- to whatever extent possible.
The committee also listed literacy programs and targeted intervention strategies for struggling students high on the list of "essential" services.
Some other ideas floated Monday -- ones that didn't get specific mention in the questionnaire -- including moving from a five- to four-day school week, closing a middle or high school, and freezing employee salaries. The latter, which would have to be negotiated with employee unions, would save about $4.5 million, Fahey said.
The committee heard from representatives from both the teacher and classified unions, which may be asked to consider contract concessions.
Jill Simmons, president of the Oregon School Employees Association, said concessions granted in previous hard years never prevented layoffs and have made it more difficult to attract and retain high-quality candidates in some job classifications.
She also cautioned against contracting out jobs to private companies, often a popular but controversial cost-savings strategy for government agencies.
While acknowledging the crisis is real, Paul Duchin and Merri Steele, co-presidents of the Eugene Education Association, urged the committee to hold off on potentially damaging decisions until it has sufficient information in hand.
The Eugene district is better off than many, thanks to healthy reserves and a voter-approved local option levy that last year raised $14 million for operating expenses -- about 10 percent of the general fund. A majority of committee members said they don't want to dip below the school board's desired 5 percent reserve level in order to balance the budget.
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