Oregon Public Broadcasting

Despite voter approval of two tax measures last month, one-third of Oregon school superintendents expect to cut their budgets for next school year. Rob Manning reports on new survey results released Wednesday.

49 school districts and education service districts reported that even though the passage of the taxes averted deep cuts, they’re still likely to cut programs.

Those answers came in response to a survey from the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, or COSA.

Half the superintendents planning to make cuts said they’d probably have to lay off teachers. About one in five expected to shorten the school year. The expected changes would affect the school year beginning this fall.

On the bright side, roughly half of superintendents said the passage of tax measures meant their schools would not face cuts. About an eighth of surveyed leaders budgeted low, and can add back.

School leaders expecting cuts didn’t necessarily budget too high. Seventy percent of them said they’d run out of financial reserves – in part, because they’d spent them on the current year.

Districts also blame declining enrollment and the rising costs of employee contracts.