North Wasco County School District 21 proposed budget approved by committee

According to the proposed budget document, the budget is built on a State School Fund (SSF) of $11.4 billion and includes state general fund revenues that are expected to increase by approximately $2.4 million, which is attributed to an increase in funding per student.

The budget also includes the continuation of the Innovation Academy, the completion of seismic grant for Chenoweth Elementary School for the retrofit of the cafeteria and gymnasium for $2 million, and a $5 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to mitigate hazardous materials and Chenoweth Middle School.

The budget also covered risk management and liability insurance, which the document notes is expected to increase by 19% due to “increased high costs claims across the state.”

The most significant cost contributors to the budget proposal include an increased mandatory Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) contributions, with the net increase in pension costs amounting to $2.63 million.

Anderson said the employer contribution rate for the Oregon Public Service Retirement Program for those hired after August 2003 increased from 10.49% to 23.04%.

“It made a significant cost driver to just keep the same people at the same wage in the same job,” Anderson said.

Another noted cost driver for the proposed budget was health insurance costs. The May 6 budget committee meeting minutes note that the Oregon Educators Benefit Board (OEBB) is now the sole provider for school health insurance, and is responsible for selecting insurance carriers and setting limits on annual premium increases.

“When you mandate the premium increase to the extent that the health insurance carrier can’t coerce the dental insurance carrier to not take an increase, the only other choice they have is to change the plan design, so they’re changing the plan design again,” Anderson said at the May 6 meeting.

“It’s a matter of trying to maintain the maximum benefit for our employees that I can do within the parameters of the health insurance world,” Anderson said.

Increases for contracted salary and benefits are also included in the proposed budget. According to Anderson, the district is currently bargaining with both classified and licensed union associations, and as an agreement has not been reached yet, what has been factored into the budget is currently an estimate.

Expecting a shortfall due to factors like the PERS requirements and lower enrollement, the district was considering “reductions in both district ‘operations and efficiencies’ and staff positions, including administrative, licensed and classified positions,” as previously reported by Columbia Gorge News.

Approximately nine positions within the district were eliminated from the budget: the nutrition services director, director of operations for facilities, the district athletic director, a district-wide child development specialist, one high school and two middle school teachers, a district office receptionist and an in-school suspension supervisor. Anderson said these positions were eliminated either through attrition — positions left vacant by employees voluntarily leaving due to reasons such as retirement — or restructured, with individuals assigned or hired elsewhere within the district while the position duties are absorbed by other positions.

Three new positions were added to the budget, including a high school vice principal for Innovations Academy and a maintenance person, leaving the district with a net of six positions eliminated. Since some state and federal grants were higher than expected, less positions had to be cut than the district initially feared.

Both committee meetings can be viewed on the District 21 Media Channel on YouTube.