ODE officials present K–12 fiscal transparency findings; subcommittee receives report and forwards to full committee

Oregon Department of Education officials presented a continuation of a work session on K–12 fiscal transparency at the education subcommittee meeting on May 27, and the subcommittee acknowledged receipt of the report and forwarded it to the full committee with the Legislative Fiscal Office recommendation.

Kai Turner, assistant superintendent for the Office of Finance and Information Technology at the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), and Devin Castillo, ODE’s fiscal transparency director, described ongoing work with education partners — including OASBO, COSA and OAESD — to make fiscal data usable and adoptable by districts and local education officials. “Adoptability is what we truly care about when we think in terms of fiscal transparency and data visualization,” Castillo said. Turner added, “we will continue to offer that technical assistance, be a resource and ... a space for training and learning with our business manager partners as well as our superintendent partners.”

Castillo supplied numerical context for fiscal 2023: total district expenditures were about $13.1 billion, producing a per-pupil total-expenditure figure of roughly $24,100. She said that by excluding long-term capital outlays and debt service (about $6,600 per pupil in her breakdown) the figure that more directly funds instruction is approximately $17,000 per pupil; federal funding accounts for roughly $2,000 per pupil. Castillo and staff noted that different comparisons to other states can be “apples to oranges” because states use different formulas and include or exclude capital, debt service and other items in per-pupil calculations.

Committee members raised several concerns: turnover in district finance staff, the ability of newer school board members to interpret financial reports, and the timeliness of the data. Turner and Castillo said ODE is conducting surveys and zone meetings with business managers and works closely with OASBO to provide technical assistance; Castillo said the department had noted significant turnover in business manager ranks earlier in the year, “about 35-ish” at that time. Staff also said that some of the department’s finance data can lag and be actionable only after as much as 18 months, limiting real-time intervention.

Several lawmakers expressed alarm that one district’s ending fund balance was reported at about 1 percent; ODE staff said they did not provide district names in the presentation and that low balances can reflect local choices or prepayments of liabilities. Committee members asked ODE to make written responses available; staff posted answers and materials to the legislative information system (OLIS) and to committee materials.

Ben DeYoung of the DAS Chief Financial Office recommended that the subcommittee acknowledge receipt of the report. The Legislative Fiscal Office also recommended acknowledging receipt. A motion to receive the report and forward it to the full committee with the LFO recommendation was made and recorded; the motion carried with no objections, and Senators Weber and McLean were noted as excused.

Staff and members flagged follow-ups: ODE said it will continue outreach to business managers and post technical materials; committee members asked for additional historical trend data and a written explanation of state school fund weights and how weighted funding treats students in poverty. ODE said statutory language defines the state school fund mechanics and staff offered to return with a focused presentation on the state school fund calculation if requested.