Presented by Superintendent Aaron Bayer to the OTSD Budget Committee on April 23rd:

Our charge is critical. Over 4,000 children are enrolled in Oregon Trail Schools, and those children deserve to thrive. Our 2013-2014 proposed budget was developed with this key focus in mind - We will leverage our resources to move children forward academically.

We will continue our goals to:

• Create the conditions for children to thrive - a supportive environment for teaching and learning,
• Provide the essential skills necessary for students to perform academically and compete globally,
• Provide access to rigorous, relevant, robust and reliable educational experiences,
• Begin earlier to provide a foundation of learning for pre-K children,
• Provide appropriate academic interventions, and most importantly,
• Eliminate the barriers that stifle creativity by growing the teaching and learning culture while encouraging our educators to take risks and innovate.

How will we manage to move forward with this focus? Our 2013-2014 proposed budget reflects practical deliberations and difficult choices. We have a mutually respectful and collaborative relationship with our employee groups. We have our eyes on the target, and we know that operating our schools during these difficult times takes a realistic, concerted effort.

Addressing economic instability

Oregon's public education system has seen its share of economic instability. Annual revenues have been essentially flat since 2007-2008. Couple flat-funding with escalating expenditures and the result is a fiscal deficit. Fortunately, Oregon Trail and its members have strategically addressed prior deficits by implementing a combination of retirement/resignation incentive programs, pay freezes, furlough days, and by spending down cash reserves. Implementing the incentive program in 2009 limited the number of layoffs that would typically be necessary to address a budget shortfall; but even with that creative measure, we have lost more than 80 employees since, resulting in a struggle to preserve our comprehensive program offerings.

Our 2013-2014 proposed budget reflects a deficit of $1.6 million. This deficit continues leveraging our cash reserve to fortify our budget while providing modest advancements for our members, restoring our district calendar and accounting for PERS increases. Though this is not a sustainable option, this number reflects our attempt to continue the growth of our programs by creating conditions that inspire our students to achieve and provides opportunity for our staff to deliver high fidelity instruction. With the economic times being what they are, maintaining a viable budget is a perpetual concern. That process does not stop with this budget proposal. State school funding is outside our control, but to keep our focus on students, we will continue to collaborate with our employees to mitigate what we can - our expenditures. Looking forward we will continue to examine elements of our current practice including our comprehensive high school model, middle school and high school athletic offerings, transportation, and school scheduling. We will move deliberately and cautiously continuing to focus on our academic future ensuring that children thrive in the Oregon Trail School District.