Eugene 4J School District leaders say the tens of millions of dollars in reductions they announced earlier this year did not save as much money as they hoped.
Actual costs also came in higher than leaders forecasted – leaving 4J with an anticipated $16 million gap.
During Wednesday’s budget meeting, 4J Finance Director Matt Brown said the school board will need to use one-time funds to balance next year’s budget, including revenue from the sale of a downtown building the district had, at one point, hoped to use as its new headquarters.
Brown said 4J needs to improve coordination, especially for how it tracks employees working at more than one school or those who are paid with multiple types of funding.
"This will mean changes within not only finance and human resources, but also across every department and school in our district to ensure that we are aligned, (and) all moving in the same direction with the same processes," he said.
The district does not plan to lay off any additional people beyond the 269 positions it already announced. Other already planned cuts include changes to middle school schedules, co-locating Family School with Camas Ridge Elementary, and reductions to technology spending and college readiness programs.
District leaders said implementing long-term initiatives to right- size the budget, or have more accurate numbers, have been challenging over the last few years after high leadership turnover. The district has had five superintendents in six years.
Eugene 4J Superintendent Miriam Mickelson said, in previous years, the district relied on reserves and COVID-19 federal relief money to make up for lagging revenue. She said the district is working on improving its forecasting and finding ways to make the district’s budget sustainable.
“I will say that our current reality is unsettling and it also calls on us to think differently about how we serve our students under tighter financial conditions,” she said during Wednesday’s board meeting.
Springfield School District is also facing a budget deficit and many colleges have also had to make cuts, including Lane Community College and the University of Oregon. Most Oregon schools are facing dropping enrollment and struggling with high pension costs.
