School budget panel gets to work

The Eugene School District’s budget committee received the district’s proposed 2011-12 budget Monday and, as expected, there were no real shockers.

That’s because the shock came last fall when Superintendent George Russell made his initial recommendations to the school board to deal with what was then estimated as a record $30 million shortfall for the 2011-12 school year. Since then, that number has shrunk to an estimated $21.7 million, but that would still be a record amount, topping the $21 million shortfall in 2009-10.

To deal with such a whopping hole, an eye-popping 15 percent of the district’s operating budget, the district is proposing layoffs en masse; closing four elementary schools at the end of the year; trying to negotiate at least $4.5 million in employee compensation concessions by June 30; planning to use $5 million in reserve funds; and cutting supplies and other costs.

“The stark reality of implementing these reductions is going to be painful,” Russell said at Monday’s meeting. “These cuts are the largest reductions in (Eugene) school district history.”

The budget proposal does not incorporate either a city income tax for school operations or a $70 million bond measure for school facilities, both to be decided by voters in next Tuesday’s election.

“It’s important to note, even if both of those measures were to pass, we still would be faced with significant reductions,” Russell said.

The proposed 2011-12 total budget is $272 million, about $21 million less than 2010-11. The district’s proposed general fund operating budget is $135 million, $7 million less than this year’s.

In addition to using $5 million in one-time reserve funds, the proposal includes $16.7 million in permanent reductions to achieve the $21.7 million in cost savings needed to balance next year’s budget. The biggest part of those cost-savings would be $5.8 million from laying off the equivalent of 64 full-time teachers and other licensed staff. An additional $1.3 million would be saved by laying off the equivalent of 23 full-time classified positions.

The second-largest portion of cash savings would be the $4.5 million in concessions from the district’s employee groups, all currently negotiating with the district. If those concessions cannot be gained, further staff reductions will be necessary, according to the budget proposal.

An additional $3.5 million in savings would come from cutting the district’s central office staff by about 10 percent.

Russell urged the budget committee, which consists of the seven school board members and seven community appointees, not to simply accept the cuts at face value, but to challenge them and offer other approaches the district might take before the committee approves the budget on May 23. After the budget panel takes action, the school board will hold a public hearing and take a final vote on the budget in June.

“There is absolutely no way to guarantee that I’m right, or (district staff) are right, or we’re right,” Russell said of the budget’s cost-cutting proposals. “Because we’ve never been down this path before.”

Edgewood Community Elementary School Principal Larry Williams, Madison Middle School Principal Rick Gaultney and South Eugene High School Principal Randy Bernstein took turns describing to the committee what the cuts will mean for their schools.

Williams said classes at Edgewood, which will absorb half of the students from soon-to-be-closed Parker Elementary, will average about 35 students next fall. Gaultney gave similar numbers, while Bernstein said South is looking at eliminating 35 class offerings, phasing out French and German classes, and trimming physical education and music classes.

“The meat and the fat is gone,” Bernstein said in reference to previous cuts. “We’re throwing bones away at this point.”