The Silver Falls School District Board voted Monday to suspend its reserve policy DBDB for one year, approve a package of intra‑budget transfers intended to clear multi‑year unstructured deficits and adopt the 2025–26 budget. The motions passed unanimously.

Board Chair Phil Wiesner opened the discussion and the board moved, seconded and approved a one‑year suspension of policy DBDB before considering the budget. “We should suspend it again before we adopt this budget tonight,” Wiesner said during the discussion.

Why it matters: Finance staff said the transfers reallocate money within the current 2024–25 budget to eliminate several rolling deficits (food service, Medicaid reimbursements, facility rentals) and to avoid carrying unstructured negative balances into the new fiscal year. Director of Finance Kim Lisonbee told the board the district projects the 2025–26 ending fund balance will be “about 5 and a half percent of general fund adopted revenues.” Lisonbee and other staff emphasized the transfer plan has a net effect of zero on total appropriations but shifts funds between functions to cover shortfalls and provide a small cushion.

What the board approved: The board adopted Resolution 6‑9‑2025‑A to transfer appropriations in the 2024–25 budget and adopted Resolution 6‑9‑2025‑B to approve the 2025–26 budget and tax categories. In presenting the transfer, Lisonbee said the finance team proposed moving $1,096,000 in appropriations to “completely eliminate all prior year … 4 to 5 year debts that have been rolling forward.” The proposal described reducing instructional services appropriation by $695,000, adding $100,000 to support services to create a modest cushion there and increasing interfund transfers by $595,000 to clear negative balances in ancillary funds.

Board members and staff stressed the transfers are internal reallocations. “This is a total change to the budget of zero. It is purely transferring appropriations between those pieces,” Lisonbee said. Board members pressed staff on whether the instructional budget reductions reflect permanent cuts (they do not — the moves reflect current‑year underspending) and on how new spending pressures will be managed next year.

Background and next steps: The board also discussed revising policy DBDB in a future workshop; as currently written the policy directs an ending balance target of 10% of total adopted revenues, while the district’s practice and footnotes point to a recommendation of 5–15% of general fund revenues. Staff said the law requires a range but that the district will bring a revised DBDB back for board review. The board adopted the budget and the transfers by unanimous voice vote and closed the budget hearing later in the meeting.

Implementation notes: Staff said the transfers will eliminate unstructured roll‑forward deficits but do not change structured debt such as PERS bonds or voter‑approved building bonds. Finance staff signaled they will continue tightened purchase controls and monitoring during the final weeks of the fiscal year to avoid audit findings and to preserve the projected ending balance.

Ending: Board Chair Wiesner and Director Lisonbee said the steps give the district a cleaner starting point for next year while staff plan a policy review to set a long‑term reserve approach.