On Thursday night, Medford School District's Budget Committee and School Board approved the district’s new budget for the upcoming school year, in a 10-4 vote.
The district, which serves over 13,000 students in grades K-12, is facing a $15 million shortfall over the next two years.
District officials say that shortfall is due to declining enrollment, inadequate state funding, inflation, the end of emergency COVID money for schools and an increase in special education enrollment.
“Our districtwide non-charter enrollment has dropped by nearly 1,000 students since 2018-19, the last full school year before the pandemic," Superintendent Bret Champion wrote in a letter presenting the proposed budget.
According to the Oregon Department of Education's Quality Education Commission, the state has consistently failed to provide enough funding in order for schools to provide a quality education.
Medford's budget for the upcoming school year includes cutting $7.5 million in spending, using nearly $2 million from reserves and getting rid of over 32 positions, mostly through attrition and reassignment. Three people will lose their jobs starting next school year. The reductions include some assistant principals, 10 elementary school teachers and all teacher librarians in the middle and high schools.
The district will also hold off on its planned construction for the Innovation Academy building, reduce its funding for trainings and cut back its summer programming.
Teachers, students and parents spoke against the new budget during public comment on Thursday.
Kirstie Christopherson, an elective tech arts teacher, said this round of budget cuts should have been focused elsewhere.
"This round should not impact the classroom staff nor their support because the kids should be able to continue to have great learning environments," she said.
"The one constant in my time at [Medford School District] has been a decrease in the services given to students," said Paul Cynar, social studies teacher at South Medford High School.
The budget still has to be officially adopted by the Board of Directors at the end of June.
Other school districts in the state are also struggling with funding issues. The Ashland School District will lay off about 19 staff at the end of this school year.
Champion warned at Thursday’s meeting that these cuts are only a partial fix to the district’s problems.
"If things don’t improve, next year’s going to be much much worse. I am saddened at anyone [who] lost or had a change in job, but the fact that we were able to trim $7.5 million, and we have three folks who are actually losing their jobs, that’s something that we really worked hard to try to make sure was true," he said.
The district says it is also considering consolidating elementary schools in the future due to their declining enrollment.
According to the district website, "The analysis for consolidating elementary schools will begin in fall 2024, with announcements expected around early 2025. The consolidation will likely affect two elementary schools for the 2025-26 school year. Community engagement will be sought in this process."
