Oregon Public Broadcasting

School districts across Oregon are going to be grappling this week with how to sustain an immediate 1.2 percent budget cut. Rob Manning reports.

The latest revenue forecast blew a $140 million hole in the state budget, and is forcing administrators of public agencies and schools to make cuts.

A few school leaders already know what they’re going to do, like La Grande superintendent, Larry Glaze. He says schools will eliminate ‘non-essential’ spending. But he says that doesn’t mean the cuts will be invisible.

Larry Glaze: “We’re looking at cutting out things like field trips, we’re not going to be able to afford those field trips. We’re looking at not cutting athletic programs yet, but we are looking at maybe cutting long-distance contests that may have been scheduled in.”

Districts that have larger reserves may use them to avoid cuts. Glaze says La Grande’s reserves would have been wiped out by the budget hole.

Two school districts are already in worse shape than La Grande. The Nestucca school district in Tillamook County, and the Reynolds Schools, in east Multnomah County, were already planning to cut school days off the current year’s calendar to balance their budgets.

They might have to cut more school days, as a result of the state budget gap.