School district: 'It's raining'

For the past three years, the Sisters School District has balanced million-dollar reductions in state funding against the need to maintain a "rainy-day fund" in case of emergencies. Most other school districts in the state used up their rainy-day funds years ago, and have been forced to make drastic cuts in days and teachers each of the last three years.

"It is raining," said Superintendent Jim Golden. "We are down to the bone. The choices are like would you rather be shot, hung or stabbed?"

For the last three budget cycles the warnings from the administration and the community have been clear, you can't continue to cut "10 percent across the board" each year and still expect to deliver the quality student programs that Sisters Country has come to expect. At some point some programs must be cut so that others can survive. The district appears to be at that point.

A $1,485,000 budget deficit caused primarily by the loss of roughly 90 students (families moving), and upwardly spiraling PERS costs (now as high as 30 percent of a teachers salary) have forced the district into some very difficult choices.

The district has eliminated 6.2 FTE (full-time equivalent) positions, eliminated two temporary positions, reduced the classified "year" from 260 days to 240 days, and has proposed cutting the school year by five days. Current teacher's union negotiations will determine the nature (contact vs. non-contact days) and quantity of days actually cut from the schedule.

It is rumored that Redmond is looking at cutting 20 days from their school year, and Bend is looking at cutting 10 days from their schedule.

"We continue to do everything we can to keep the cuts away of the classroom," said Golden. "Last year we cut an elementary principal, our special-ed coordinator, central-office clerical support, and a number of part-time people."

Golden and lead teacher Barbara Kamrath are sharing the administrative duties at Sisters Elementary, and Golden is using his extensive background in special education to cover the special-ed administrative needs.

To help ease the burden, the district has engaged with High Desert Education Services District to provide shared services for special-ed, business office and human relations functions.

With the mindset of keeping the cuts away from the classroom and core classes, elementary counselor Shawn Diez and high school counselor Cindy Holler were laid off. Part-time high school teachers Gary Bowne (drama, Americana Project) and Ben Young (video production, technology) saw their positions eliminated, as well as temporary high school teachers Rob Corrigan (chemistry and physics, math club) and Scott Duggan (agriculture science).

The business and health programs at the high school were cut, resulting in the loss of Steve Hodges (business and baseball), Kevin Cotner (health, PE) and Kim Strong (English).

(Note: Coaches' contracts are not necessarily tied to teaching contracts.)

The loss of these programs and staff will force the integration of the concepts and standards of health and business into non-traditional venues such as the culinary arts program, the Sisters Science Club, the greenhouse project, and agriculture programs. The district is also investigating getting support for drama and video production through Central Oregon Community College offerings.

Even with the cuts, the Sisters School District will still have the highest number of student contact days and the lowest student/teacher ratio in Central Oregon, among the top five in the state.

To maintain this standard, the district will be using most of the last of its reserve funds. This makes the board uneasy.

"I'm walking on the razor blade," said Golden. "Just about everybody is unhappy at this point. The board is feeling unhappy, the teachers are unhappy, the classified (staff) are unhappy, the parents are unhappy. If the pain is spread evenly then I am probably doing a good job."

Golden said, "We can get through this year and maybe one more. By then something radical has to change at the state level. Change the school funding method? Combine districts? Something has to happen!"

Board chair Chris Jones said, "Jim has done a very good - and hard - job reducing expenditures as much as possible while still maintaining the basic quality of the K-12 program we offer. The staff cuts really hurt. Still, we've got a number of good things going for our district: Low student-teacher ratios, free kindergarten, fewer days cut, innovative programs that other school districts in the state don't have.

"At the same time, we're looking at a deficit of over $1 million in 2013-14 if things don't break our way," Jones continued. "That's why the board is urging the superintendent to take any additional savings that can be eked out of the 2012-2013 budget and put them in our rainy day fund for the following year. We are trying to do everything we can to avoid a really major reconfiguration of our programs down the road. The prospects are pretty bleak right now, but at least for the coming year we're grateful to be able to offer the programs that we are."