Sweet Home School Board approves state—ombined pplication; district outlines $2.2M nd measure-98 spending
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Summary
The Sweet Home School District 55 board voted to approve the state's integrated guidance application, authorizing the district's plan for Student Investment Account funds and Measure 98 allocations, including new staff hires and CTE expansions.
The Sweet Home School District 55 board voted to approve the Oregon Department of Education's integrated guidance application, placing district priorities for multiple state and federal initiatives into a single plan and formally submitting the combined application.
The action bundles work on several programs that previously required separate applications, including the Student Investment Account (SIA), the High School Success initiative (Measure 98), career and technical education supports, early indicator and intervention systems, and Everyday Matters attendance strategies. Board members approved the measure after a motion to accept the integrated guidance initiative was made and seconded; no roll-call vote tally was recorded in the meeting minutes.
District leaders said using the single integrated application lets the district align services and reporting for a set of related grants and initiatives. The district reported it submitted its integrated application early and that the statewide deadline for the combined application is March 31.
Superintendent Terry Martin and district staff laid out planned uses for the funding streams. For the 2025-26 school year the district expects SIA funding in the range of $2.2 million to $2.25 million; the district plans to use that funding to add or retain seven classroom teachers to reduce class size, three special-education teachers, additional counseling positions, junior-high math and English language-arts positions, one alternative-education teacher, and classified instructional support. The SIA plan also includes funds for literacy and math supports, summer and winter school, after-school tutoring, and technology and curriculum needs. District staff said they plan to continue waiving pay-to-play fees at the junior-high and high-school levels using those funds.
Under the High School Success allotment (Measure 98), the district reported an allocation of roughly $678,000 for 2025-26. The district said about two-thirds of that measure-98 allotment would fund staff: a dropout-prevention counselor, an essential-skills coordinator, a math instructor, a forestry instructor, a CTE assistant and a high-school-success assistant. The measure-98 funding will also support interventions (summer/winter programs, tutoring) and professional support for students who are off track.
District leaders also summarized CTE developments funded through a mix of Measure 98, Perkins V and pathway dollars. Sweet Home High School has formalized CTE programs in forestry/natural resources, agriculture, health occupations and audio-visual technology; the district reported expanded college-credit offerings through partnerships with LBCC. Staff said Perkins and pathway funds purchased welding machines and supplies and provided roughly $4,000 in pathway dollars for classroom needs, boots and safety equipment for students working in natural-resources courses.
The integrated application presentation also covered the Early Indicator and Intervention System, which the district said yields a small allocation (about $6,700) to support early-warning tools in Synergy and targeted services such as ninth- and tenth-grade success teams, mental-health therapists, a family-support liaison and mentoring for students off track.
Board discussion included procedural questions about timing and a brief discussion of related board policies to be reviewed in later readings. No amendment to the integrated application was recorded. The board approved the application as presented and directed staff to continue implementation and follow-up reporting to the board.
The integrated guidance approval consolidates multiple funding and reporting requirements into a single plan for the district and sets staffing and program priorities tied to the district's Continuous Improvement Plan and state-required metrics such as on-time graduation and ninth-grade on-track.
Next steps: staff said they will monitor implementation and provide updates to the board as grant-funded positions and programs begin to operate in the 2025-26 school year.
