Corvallis School District 2024-25 Budget Update, April 17, 2024

In the previous Corvallis School District budget update, our district shared where our funding comes from, how the district develops its budget, and why our district will have less funding in the 2024-25 school year. The district also shared that we must reduce spending by $8.2 million to account for the difference between next year’s funding and our expenses.

Making this level of a cut is extremely difficult for a range of reasons. Because the district needs to reduce spending by $8.2 million and staffing is 78.5% of our budget, this requires a reduction of positions at both the district and school levels. The decision to reduce staff was not made lightly, and we recognize the challenges it presents.

It was crucial that the district first shared staff reduction information directly with staff whose positions were impacted by these reductions. This week, building administrators also had conversations with all staff in their building about upcoming changes. Now, the district is sharing this information so the community is informed about these changes.

The information below includes how these decisions were made, the staffing reductions happening, what is changing (and what is not), and how the district will make these adjustments while maintaining the quality of education and student support.

Updates will be shared as any additional decisions are made this spring.

Decision Process

In preparation for staffing reductions, district and school administrators met a number of times over the last five months to:

• Review existing vacancies and discuss the impacts of leaving those positions vacant
• Review and prioritize existing programs and services
• Decide how to minimize reductions to support student success and align with our district’s priorities
• Discuss how to maintain staff members in the district by sharing responsibilities at multiple schools.

We also prioritized funding to maintain special education FTE. The overall goal was to keep as many reductions as possible away from the classroom and students. At the same time, because 78.5% of our budget is staffing, a budget reduction of $8.2 million impacts people and positions.

Decisions

Based on these ongoing discussions with building and department leaders since December, here are the solutions our district is taking to address budget shortfalls.

We are reducing district office spending by $4.6 million. 

• This includes a reduction of both staff and program budgets.

We have continued a hiring freeze throughout the year.

We are reducing positions at the building level.

• These reductions are based on a decrease of over 250 students for the 2024-25 school year.

Changes:

• We will return to sharing some of our specialist positions (such as art, music, and PE) across buildings.
  • This allows us to retain as many staff as possible by sharing positions across multiple buildings and maintaining instructional minutes in these subjects. It also allows us to maintain art, music, and PE at all our schools.
  • While the Local Option Levy provides funding to support these subjects, these positions are also supported by general district funds. 
  • The Local Option Levy allows our district to provide these subjects at a higher level than general funds alone, and than other districts in Oregon can. 

• We are reducing classroom teaching positions at the building level to return to pre-COVID class sizes.
  • Decisions about these reductions are based on seniority and union contractual requirements.

Over the last week, the district finalized staffing plans for the 2024-25 school year. Supervisors shared information directly with staff whose positions were reduced or who are receiving a different placement for the 2024-25 school year. This week, building principals also shared information about upcoming changes with all staff in their building so they could plan for the 2024-25 school year.

Upcoming Budget Committee and School Board Meetings

Budget Committee

Next week, the first budget committee meeting is Thursday, April 25, 2024. This meeting is at Lincoln Elementary at 6:30 pm and can also be viewed on the district YouTube channel. This meeting is an orientation for budget committee members. Budget committee members will learn:

• How K-12 gets funding and from where.
• Their roles and responsibilities as budget committee members.
• How our district goes about the budget process.

At the following budget meeting on Thursday, May 23rd, the committee will do a first review of the proposed budget.

School Board

The next Corvallis School Board meeting is Thursday, May 9th. This meeting is at Lincoln Elementary at 6:30 pm and can also be viewed on the district YouTube channel. This meeting will include public comment. 

At any time throughout the year, staff, students, families, and the community can provide input to the school board through written information, email, or public comment at school board meetings. More information here: School Board – Provide Input. There is always the opportunity for public comment at regular board meetings.