Across Clatsop County, local school districts are facing a financial crunch as they look to finalize budgets for the fiscal year — some more than others.

The Astoria and Knappa School Districts are considering staff cuts in the face of decreased enrollment and limited state funding. Meanwhile, the Jewell School District is navigating continued uncertainties regarding timber revenue. 

Astoria

This year, the Astoria School District has proposed more than a dozen staffing reductions to help shore up a roughly $1.5 million gap in its budget. Those cuts include the reduction of two elementary school teachers paid from the general fund — one at Astor Elementary and the other at Lewis and Clark Elementary — plus a third grant-funded elementary teacher. 

Other reductions include a math teacher and a science teacher at Astoria High School; half of an Astoria Choice Academy online teacher; one districtwide librarian; a job trainer at Astoria High School; two general education instructional assistant positions at Astor Elementary and Astoria High School; one half-time cafeteria helper; two special education assistants; a middle school attendance office assistant; a bilingual education assistant; and a speech language pathologist assistant. Astoria Middle School Principal Linda Brech, who served as acting superintendent from mid-February through mid-May, said the proposed budget won’t reduce any nurses, counselors, administrative staff or programming.

Part of the reason for the changes in staffing is declining enrollment — over the last five years, district enrollment has decreased by around 195 students. Because the state’s funding formula is based on enrollment, fewer students means a smaller portion of the pie.

And fewer students can also translate to a need for fewer teachers. Although the district’s general fund will see a reduction of around 11 full-time equivalents from last year, Brech said it will still be able to maintain similar class sizes, ranging from 20 to 24 students depending on grade level. All of the staff reductions, she added, will be achieved through attrition, meaning staff may need to be shuffled, but no one will be let go. 

“We are fortunate in the sense that the positions that are being eliminated will take the place of retirements and resignations, so none of our teachers, none of our employees, will be unemployed,” Brech said. “We were able to make reductions in different buildings, both elementary and secondary, while maintaining our small class sizes just because of our declining enrollment.”

In addition to decreased enrollment, the district also faces broader challenges, like a lack of funding at the state level. This biennium’s governor’s budget proposes a roughly $11.3 billion allocation for education funding — and while that number is higher than previous bienniums, it still may not be on par with district needs. The Quality Education Model, a data-driven tool used by the state to estimate funding needs, estimates funding should actually be closer to $13.2 billion. In the most basic terms, that means revenues aren’t matching increasing expenses. 

“The increase of the school funding that we received as a district is not commensurate with, for example, the contractual obligation to pay for our staff, to pay our utility bill,” Brech said. “The increase isn’t keeping up with the reality for operational costs, employee costs, those kinds of things.”

The state also has an 11% cap on special education funding — but closer to 21% of the Astoria School District’s students receive special education services. 

Another factor impacting finances is an increase to Oregon Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) contributions. Although biennial rate changes are felt statewide, the Astoria School District is in a unique position because a bond it took out to help lower the PERS rate year after year is set to expire in 2027. Because PERS rates are set for two years, this upcoming fiscal year will act as a “stepping stone” and the district is anticipated to see rates increase by around $2 million.

“Basically, our PERS rate has increased by up to 15% starting July 1 for the next two years, but we’re also still paying off our bond,” said Business Manager Mindy Landwehr. “So our PERS rate looks like, you know, 30%, whereas over the last few years, we’ve been paying 1% or a few years we had no PERS rate.”

A public hearing on the approved 2025-26 budget is scheduled for June 11. 

Knappa

In Knappa, Superintendent Bill Fritz said the school district has been working to fill a roughly $290,000 gap in its $8 million general fund budget. In order to do so, it’s looking at the reduction of two teachers, as well as roughly $22,000 worth of administrative savings, including reducing the salary for one administrative opening. 

Fritz said all personnel across the district have agreed to take two furlough days, administrators have agreed to take four, and he has agreed to five. Other changes include a reduction in classified hours, including the reduction of 16.5 education assistant hours and the elimination of summer hours for one position. The district has also discussed the potential for increased athletic fees — specifically, a differentiated fee for charter school and homeschool families who participate in athletics — and additional facility user fees for community members who use district buildings.

Like Astoria, Knappa faces similar challenges related to state funding and the legislature’s special education funding cap. Around 25% of the district’s students receive special education services. 

“We don’t receive funding for 14% of our students in special education,” Fritz said. “And so what that requires is that we tap general fund resources beyond those that would be brought to us through the special education program, to support the mentor program for those kids.”

House Bill 2953, which was introduced to the legislature this session, would eliminate that 11% cap on special education funding. However, Fritz said the district has built a budget based on a 15% cap, and if changes don’t materialize, another $120,000 would need to be made up.

The district is also facing declining enrollment, and expects 11 fewer students next year, largely due to lower birth rates, Fritz said. As it has navigated those changes, the district has sought input through a community survey, three meetings with staff and a public “superintendent chat” to discuss reductions.

Fritz said the focus has been on minimizing student impacts and avoiding eliminating student programming offerings like Spanish and music. While some staff reductions have been necessary due to lower enrollment, he said the goal has been to keep those impacts to a minimum as well — something voluntary furlough days have helped achieve.

“The associations came forward to us and said, rather than cutting additional positions, we’d rather all take a little bit of a hit, and, you know, mitigate the impact on kids and our colleagues, so that was impressive to see,” Fritz said. 

A public hearing on the approved 2025-26 budget is scheduled for June 18.

Jewell

For the Jewell School District, the biggest change to this year’s budget is a reduction in timber revenue.

Unlike the vast majority of school districts in Oregon, Jewell is one of four districts that falls outside of the state’s school equalization formula because local revenues have historically been higher than what the formula would provide. Timber revenues make up a significant portion of the district’s budget. However, in light of the state’s habitat conservation plan, which the state Board of Forestry narrowly approved last year, the district has been bracing for lower harvests.

Interim Superintendent Cory Pederson said timber revenues made up $4.5 million of the district’s adopted general fund budget last year. This year, the district anticipates receiving an estimated $3.6 million in quarterly timber receipts.

“We’re about a million, a little over a million behind already, and we’ve only received our two of the four (receipts),” Pederson said earlier this month. “And part of the issue is, we just don’t know what’s coming through. … If we’re already a million down, we need to continue to move forward in the direction of reductions.”

Pederson said the district has managed to maintain a relatively robust plan for the coming fiscal year, with minimal cuts to staffing and programming. Under the proposed budget, one in-house substitute teacher will be discontinued due to attrition, and one classified position will be reduced. However, Pederson said the district plans to continue to invest in key focus areas, like its multi-tiered system of supports.

The district also plans to shift one full-time equivalent to support a new agriculture program, and add a full-time equivalent to create a special education director position — something Pederson sees as a significant need. 

“I believe, truthfully, this is going to put the playing level a little bit higher for our district in the eyes of the rest of the county,” he said.

A public hearing on the approved 2025-26 budget is scheduled for June 16.

Seaside

Like Jewell, the Seaside School District falls outside of the state’s school equalization formula, and instead relies primarily on property taxes, local option levies and timber revenue. Because of this, enrollment doesn’t dictate funding, helping avoid some of the challenges districts like Astoria and Knappa have confronted this year.

Superintendent Susan Penrod said the district is doing relatively well. This year’s proposed budget includes some staffing changes, including one 0.4 FTE licensed technology specialist being cut through attrition. Penrod said the district has decided not to refill it because of shifting needs.

The district also plans to bring one 0.5 FTE social studies teacher at the high school up to full time to meet new state requirements for civics education, and replace the health assistant with a second registered nurse. To help navigate PERS rate increases, Penrod said the district is looking at small changes, like waiting to replace a bus in the bus fleet and finding ways to save on technology and professional development.

“Looking at areas where we can either put a pause or cut for the 2025-26 year on any of those purchases and spending is our way of recouping the increase in PERS,” she said.

A public hearing on the approved 2025-26 budget is scheduled for June 17.

Warrenton-Hammond

With a proposed operating budget of around $18 million, the Warrenton-Hammond School District is looking to make minimal changes to staffing and programming this coming fiscal year. Mike Moha, the district’s business manager, said one of two grant-funded family liaison positions will be replaced with an early literacy coach, but the district is not considering any reductions.

Like other districts, PERS rates, state funding and a decrease from pre-pandemic enrollment all play a role in the budget. Moha said the district is taking around $450,000 out of reserves this year to make up for a gap between state school fund allocations and current service levels, but the district still has a healthy ending fund balance. 

“We strategically built up our ending fund balance so we can go through years like this where we don’t have to cut,” he said. “We’re always looking for places to save money, whatever we can tweak here or there, but no significant cuts for this year.”

A public hearing on the approved 2025-26 budget is scheduled for June 11.