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With another major budget deficit lurking for next school year, the Crook County School District is looking for more places to cut spending.
Unfortunately, there are not many options left.
At this point, short of more staff layoffs, there are only two cuts left that will yield significant savings: closing a school or changing to a four-day school week.
Prior to the passing of ballot measures 66 and 67, the anticipated shortfall was nearly $3 million. When those measures passed, the possibility of losing $1.2 million to $1.5 million was eliminated.
"Should measures 66 and 67 net us $1.2 million, that leaves us a shortfall of $1,756,926," Superintendent Ivan Hernandez stated, "If the revenue generated is $1.5 million, that leaves a shortfall of $1,456,926."
However, there is a good chance the deficit will be less than that. Hernandez went on to say that the school district has "mitigated - between reductions in 2009-2010 and recapture of some of those reductions again in 2010-2011 - about $1.1 million for next year for a projected shortfall of $656,926 or $356,926."
According to the most recent school district estimates, the shortfall is caused by such changes as the loss of one-time contributions from staff salary reductions, the significant decrease in stimulus funding and federal forest payments.
The four-day school week is projected to save the school district anywhere between $270,000 and $740,000, depending on the number of teacher prep days and in-service days that are reduced. However, the decision figures to severely impact the district's classified staff - which includes bus drivers, custodians, food service personnel, and educational assistants.
With these employees, a cut in school days is more than just a cut in their hours and pay.
"The majority of your classified (staff) are not eight-hour employees," said classified association president Karen Smith. Because of this, their insurance premiums are dependent on the hours worked. "The less hours you work, the more you pay for insurance," Smith said. "If you cut some of the employees' hours, they would be working more or less (to pay) for insurance."
In a recent presentation by Oregon School Employee Association budget and research specialist Brad Larsen, the four-day week may not be necessary.
Larsen noted that the Crook County School District budgeted based on $5.6 billion in school funding statewide for the 2009-2011 biennium, while the Oregon Legislature chose to provide $6 billion. $2.9 billion was provided this school year, with another $3.1 billion set aside for the 2010-2011 school year. However, that $3.1 billion amount is dependent on a $200 million trigger.
According to Larsen, the way the trigger works is if the Rainy Day Fund and the Oregon Education Stability Fund have a combined reserve of $100 million or more, state school funding receives all but the first $100 million of those reserves. However, the trigger is capped at $200 million, so any reserves exceeding $300 million do not positively impact the trigger amount.
"The forecast for those two funds as of December 2009 was $312 million," Larsen said. "I look at it as there was $2.9 billion appropriated last year and $3.1 billion for this year."
Because the Crook County School District budgeted for $5.6 billion in state funding for 2009-2010, and is looking to make more cuts on top of that for 2010-2011, Larsen believes that the district budget is based upon the worst-case scenario.
For Crook County School Board vice-chair Steve Caraway, who attended the presentation, the focus on state funding and budget numbers does not tell the whole story.
"He did have a very good presentation," Caraway said, but then added, "There were things that haven't been taken into consideration. There's a lot of underlying issues."
Caraway mentioned such concerns as depleted textbook and bus maintenance reserves, increasing PERS (Public Employee Retirement System) payments and the loss of one-time stimulus funds. Because of this, he believes that budgeting for the worst-case scenario is the best option.
"We cut things pretty tight and now we're going to have to start backfilling," he said. "There's nothing worse than thinking everything is fine, then halfway through the year, they're not."
While that is true, Caraway does not support the option of a four-day school week.
"As a board member, I am not in favor of a four-day week," he said at a recent board meeting. "I just think that there are other ways we can get to this (savings) without going this direction."
Board member Scott Cooper spoke against the four-day week as well. He asserted that providing a quality education requires "continuity and student contact."
"If you reduce the continuity and student contact time by 20 percent across the school year, I don't see how you get low-performing schools and raise them to high-performing schools," Cooper said.
Although board member Rich Mires does not believe the four-day school week is harmful for education, he would like to avoid making the change.
"I might be overly optimistic," he said, "but I just like to feel that if we can negotiate to the point that everyone gives a little, that we can find a way to make the budget work and not go to a four-day week."
As a union representative, Smith echoed Mires' beliefs.
"I think if we work together, certified (staff), classified (staff) and the school district, I believe the district could come up with a budget with carryover," she said.
Board member Patti Norris similarly would like to find another way to cut costs, but feels a four-day week could be necessary.
"The problem is we have a budget deficit," she said, "and I don't like the four-day week, but I don't dislike it any more than any of the other (cuts). All of these options we are looking at are bad, and they're going to hurt somebody. We can rail against any of them for a variety of reasons, but at the end of the day, we have to come up with a balanced budget."
As the discussion of a four-day school week wrapped up, board chair Mark Severson concluded that the board would make such a change in a "last-case scenario in our budget process." He went on to question what the decision means in the long-term. "I perceive this as a one-year fix," Severson said. "What do you do next year?"
Although the Crook County School District has yet to decide on a four-day week, the Redmond School District changed to a four-day schedule for the 2009-2010 school year to cut costs.
According to Caraway, from what he has heard, not everyone in the Redmond School District is happy with the new four-day schedule.
"I've talked to parents who don't like it," he said. "I've talked to teachers who don't like it, and ultimately, I think our students are the ones who suffer worst on this."
Redmond School District communications officer Stephanie Curtis said the change to four days has gone OK. However, she went on to say, "There's definitely a transition period. It's a longer day for students, but they are adapting well." In addition, Curtis said that some teachers have struggled because their prep periods have been pushed out to the end of the school day, rather than during the middle of the day.
At this point, Curtis said the Redmond School District will stay with the four-day school week as long as their financial struggles continue. Beyond that, they are unsure what action they will take.
