School board facing multiple challenges
From our weekly issue dated May 06, 2009
Financial uncertainties and difficult union negotiations could cause potential complications when the Three Rivers School District (TRSD) Budget Committee meets on Monday, May 11 to try and work on its figures for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
The public meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at district administrative office, 8550 New Hope Road in Murphy.
Like nearly every school district in Oregon, TRSD relies on state dollars for a substantial portion of its funding. But legislators are eyeing a shortfall of at least $4.4 billion, which could lead to cuts in service at the local level.
The state’s next revenue forecast is scheduled to be released on Friday, May 15. Once those numbers are made public, school districts throughout the state will have a better sense of what level of support to expect from Salem.
“We know we’re going to have to make substantial cuts,” said TRSD Board Chairman Dave Strahan. “This is the time to start the discussion within the Budget Committee as to what those may look like.”
Strahan said that the board has asked district staff to assemble varying budget scenarios for preliminary consideration.
“I assume we will be looking at those,” he said.
Said fellow board member Phil Stephens, the plan is to “have several different approaches, given the wide range of figures that we’re going to have to work with.”
While district officials brace for potentially devastating cuts, negotiations continue with representatives from the teachers’ union. Strahan said that negotiations are still informal at this point, but haven’t gone well so far.
“We’re not on the same page yet, that’s for sure,” he said. “But we’re still talking, and that’s the good news.”
One particular sticking point involves Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) for teachers.
“I think there are some expectations coming from the leadership that are going to be difficult for us to agree to,” Strahan said. Stephens agrees that union representatives have put district officials in quite a tough spot.
“I don’t think they’re willing to give anything up,” Stephens said. “They’re willing to give up 10 (school) days, but what that does is end up hurting the students.”
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One issue being discussed in negotiations is the possibility of making all TRSD’s extracurricular activities self-supporting for a year by cutting funds for music and athletic programs. But the district and its board may be reluctant to take such an approach.
“I’m personally not in favor of that, if we can avoid it at all,” Strahan said.
Cutting extracurricular activities could be devastating to a district that’s already struggling with declining student enrollment, he added.
“In my opinion, that would exacerbate the problem,” Strahan said. “They would flee the district in droves if the districts near us have those programs.”
Stephens said that such reductions would be unlikely to save the district much money anyway.
“I think for the most part, the district isn’t putting a lot of dollars into those areas,” he said. “A lot of those are funded by parent organizations that help to raise money and do all of that.”
But despite all those underlying issues, there may be hope for TRSD in the form of legislation working its way through the state capitol.
House Bill 2558 would allow a school to qualify as a remote, small elementary school for the purpose of weighting in the state school fund distribution formula. That bill passed through the House Education Committee on April 22 with a do-pass recommendation and was later referred to the House Revenue Committee. That body held a public hearing on HB 2558 on Friday, May 1.
Strahan said that the bill might enable TRSD to save some of its smaller schools. A Right-sizing Committee put together by the district has recommended closing a few community schools to counter the district’s continued revenue problems.
“That would relieve a lot of the pressure on Applegate and Williams moving forward,” he said. “It would also make us revisit Wolf Creek.”
Overall, the immediate challenges facing TRSD don’t keep Strahan from being optimistic about the future.
“I think at the end of the day, hopefully, it won’t be as bleak as it looks at this moment,” Strahan said. “We have to do the best we can with the information we have, and see how it goes.”
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