Bill Newton, superintendent, Hood River County School District
Mark DeMoss, CFO, Hood River County School District
HOOD RIVER — Superintendent Bill Newton and Chief Financial Officer Mark DeMoss again updated the board on Hood River County School District’s (HRCSD) budget outlook at its Feb. 26 meeting. Included in the presentation were financial projections, anticipated revenues and expenditures summary, and outline of key priorities guiding budget development.
There are several “significant unknowns” in state funding and, based on the legislature’s timing, may not be known until May or June at the earliest.
“I think our legislature is going to wait and see how federal funding comes out,” DeMoss said. “How the federal government chooses to fund Medicare has an impact on our state budget and therefore has an impact on how they view allocating money to the school state fund.
“The vast majority of our general fund budget is controlled by state formulas related to enrollment and demographics we can’t control,” he added. “… We can control our expenditures. Therefore, the budgeting tension tends to be between current and future obligations.”
Labor costs impacted by inflation, increased support costs for transportation and facilities, and PERS increases are being considered, with an eye on long-term sustainability.
“Nobody anticipated COVID. Nobody anticipated the inflation due to the spending on COVID. Nobody anticipated the wage increases that would result from inflation due to COVID,” DeMoss said. “… A one-year shift doesn’t solve our problem. This is a game of chess. We can look at the impact next year, but we really need to be thinking about the next biennium. And that’s probably the bigger struggle.”
“It’s always a balance because you have kids in school right now,” said Director Chrissy Reitz. “And you need to serve them. It’s really hard to say, ‘But we’re going to save some of this money to serve kids later.’ It’s that decision by the board [and] superintendent at the time, about how aggressive you want to be about conserving money for later, for the rainy day.”
DeMoss said the district still anticipates ending the year with a 5% fund balance, as per board policy.
Newton said the roughly 20 listening sessions throughout the county have garnered “valuable feedback from staff and community members” regarding the budget, and he anticipated providing an update including staff reductions at all school sites and the district office in April.
The first budget committee meeting will be held from 6-8 p.m. April 29 at the Hood River Valley High School library.
Newton also reported that letters have been sent to state Sen. Daniel Bonham and Rep. Jeff Helfrich, members of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, and the House Committee on Education to advocate for increased funding for special education, high-cost disability services, and early intervention programs.
“We are encouraged that three key bills — HB 2448 (high-cost disability funding), HB 2953 (special education cap), and HB 2682 (early intervention services) — continue to advance,” he said.
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