News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters schools are facing deep cuts this spring due to a $200,000 shortfall in state funding.
According to superintendent Steve Swisher, an error in reporting from the Deschutes County Assessor's office made Sisters' tax revenues seem larger than they really are. This led the state to cut back the amount of school support funding distributed to the district.
The state has made some corrections for the error, but, because most of the money has already been distributed, the shortfall can't be made up this year.
The school board agreed Monday night, March 13, to work with administrators and staff to determine where cuts have to be made.
The cuts are likely to hit muscle and bone.
The district has no reserves to absorb the shortfall and can only make up about half of the money by using contingency funds and shifting around special revenue funds.
According to Swisher, that means the budget knife looms over programs and people.
"It impacts people, it impacts lives and impacts pay," he said.
The problem is compounded by a looming deficit in next year's budget. Swisher estimates that increased costs in salaries and operational expenses such as fuel oil will outstrip funding by about another $200,000 in 2000-01.
With nowhere else to make cuts, the district faces slashing programs or allowing bigger classes.
"We've pulled a lot of rabbits out of the hat in the past," Swisher told the school board. "(The district has) staved off more substantial class cutting and have managed to protect our class sizes.
"I think our class sizes are going to have to creep up on us," he said.
Currently, Sisters enjoys good student-teacher ratios. Kindergarten classes are at about 20-1 and elementary school classes range from 23-1 to 25-1 and over. High school class sizes are also manageable, in the 25-1 to 30-1 range.
The school board could go to the voters to ask for money to plug the funding gap. A "local option" tax could raise approximately $493,000 per year for up to five years, according to school district estimates.
Local districts are now allowed to levy up to 10 percent of their general budget through the local option permitted by the legislature.
School board members, budget committee members and staff will explore the local option as they begin next year's budgeting process in April.
School board member Glen Lasken noted that the budget committee might prepare a budget that includes local option tax funds and one that does not so that voters can see clearly where the money would go.
Asking the voters for more tax dollars could impact future bonds for new schools, and some school officials think the option shields the legislature from having to deal with systemic funding problems.
But Sisters schools are running out of alternatives.
"It seems to me that we need to seriously look at the local option," said school board chairman Bill Reed.
A decision is likely to come soon.
The vote would be held in the November general election and the district would probably have to commit to trying for the local option by the end of the budget process in June.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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