Forest Grove budget committee approves tax levies and outlines $1.8 million in reductions as state revenue falls

Forest Grove School District 15—s budget committee met on May 15, 2025, and after a detailed staff presentation on state revenue revisions and district enrollment declines approved tax measures and heard staff describe an $1,800,000 reduction plan and staffing adjustments to align spending with lower projected state revenues.

District finance staff told the committee that a new Oregon revenue forecast released May 14 projects substantially less state revenue than earlier estimates. "The state is projecting $800,000,000 less than they projected in March," Director Klute said, adding that corporate activity tax receipts were revised down by about $44,000,000 and state reserves by roughly $400,000,000. "For us, we are unlikely to get more than 11,400,000,000.0 in the state school fund," Klute said.

The forecast and continued enrollment declines, staff said, underpin a conservative budget approach for 2025-26. District staff explained that the proposed budget package includes a targeted $1,800,000 in reductions and specific full-time-equivalent (FTE) staffing adjustments: an $8-FTE reduction among licensed staff tied directly to enrollment declines and an 11-FTE reduction in classified instructional-assistant (IA) FTE rolled into the general-fund reductions. Director…