Local Districts React To State K12 Budget

REDMOND, OR -- State lawmakers say the $8.2 billion education budget passed this week doesn’t do enough to help districts improve educational outcomes. Bend-La Pine Schools officials say it's the amount they were expecting, but Redmond Superintendent Mike McIntosh says it’s more than he was counting on. The Redmond School Board passed the district's 2017-2018 budget, Wednesday night. "And, that budget is based on 8.1 [billion] and so we’ll have some adjustments to make, once we figure out what the actual number is," says McIntosh. "So, what the news brings to us is, frankly, some relief because there will be additional revenue for us to backfill some of those things that we had not originally planned to fund."

He hopes the additional funds will be enough to hire a few more teachers, "I have three elementary schools that desperately need another teacher to get their class sizes under control. We will probably not have enough money to add our last day back; we’re still running one day short of a full calendar and I don’t think there will be a big enough difference to add that back. We’ll fund the CTE program the best we can based on General Fund expenditures and if we get [Measure] 98 money, we’ll get a chance to maybe reallocate some of those." Measure 98 was passed by voters in November; it helps fund Career and Technical Education (CTE). McIntosh believes Redmond could get an additional $750,000 for CTE programs, this year, but those funds are distributed through the Oregon Department of Education and the agency has not yet announced how much each district will receive.

Overall, McIntosh says he's cautiously optimistic about the next two-year state budget cycle that starts July first. "One can’t argue that this is the best K12 budget we’ve ever had, right? It’s the most money that’s ever been allocated. But, it allows us to be doing the same things we’ve been doing, without being able to do better and more for our underserved kids. There’s a tremendous amount of pressure on us to serve kids who are high on the poverty scale, who have language deficiencies in various ways, who have special needs in all kind of ways. Frankly, that just takes money and time and people." And, he says he’d hoped the Legislature would deal with two big drains on his district’s budget – health insurance and the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS). "Those are growing, insurmountable issues, at this point. The disappointment, if you will, with regard to what is going on over there, this Legislative session, neither of those were addressed. There were some failed attempts, but neither of those two issues – PERS and/or healthcare costs – were addressed. And those, for public agencies, remain high on our list of things that continue to add costs."

McIntosh expects his school board will approve a supplemental budget in the fall to account for the additional General Fund money and whatever extra the district receives through Measure 98.

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Local Districts React To State K12 Budget

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