Saxton: Outlook for Tigard-Tualatin School District budget a complicated mix

What can parents expect for next year’s school district budget? District Superintendent Rob Saxton talked all about it Nov. 24

By Geoff Pursinger

The Times, Nov 27, 2009, Updated Nov 27, 2009

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Tigard-Tualatin School District Superintendant Rob Saxton met with parents and faculty Tuesday night to discuss the state of the school district’s budget and what people can expect in the future.

And the answer is: it’s complicated.

Tigard-Tualatin’s budget hinges on three factors at the state level, the state’s revenue and two tax measures, which would raise taxes in the state by $733 million.

Oregon’s Department of Education initially allocated $6 billion to k-12 education for the 2009-11 school years, Saxton said. But with the current recession, funds are getting tighter and tighter.

That $6 billion includes $200 million that K-12 education will only receive if the state’s reserve fund stays above a $300 million watermark by June 2010.

The state’s reserves were at $312 million in the most recent quarterly revenue findings. The next will be issued in February.

An additional $285 million in the state’s $6 billion K-12 allocations stem from two tax measures on the Jan. 26 ballot, Oregon Ballot Measures 66 and 67, which — if they fail — would erase $285 million from what the state would be paying Tigard-Tualatin schools and others.

If both of the measures pass and the state’s revenue stays above $300 million, there are no problems, Saxton said. But if just one of them fails, the K-12 allocations could drop to anywhere from $5.8 billion to $5.5 billion.

Tigard-Tualatin schools expected some of this, and decided not to budget themselves at the $6 billion level, as some Portland area schools did, instead budgeting themselves at the $5.6 billion level, which means that the district is in much better shape than many Oregon schools.

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