Lake Oswego SD 7J superintendent outlines $10 million reduction plan, points to growth in special-education needs and PERS cost jump

Superintendent Dr. Schnee told the Lake Oswego School District 7J Board of Education that the district is working to responsibly manage a roughly $10,000,000 reduction in next year's operating budget while seeking to minimize harm to student learning.

Dr. Schnee said the district's reduction plan "is centered around minimizing the impact on student learning while being financially responsible." She presented a decade-long staffing and student-data comparison to explain recent staffing levels.

The superintendent said the district added 143 employees since the 2019-20 school year even though enrollment is down by about 202 students compared with the pre-pandemic year. She noted the number of students with individualized education programs (IEPs) rose from about 575 in 2013-14 to 9,186 currently in the district's dataset cited at the meeting; students with high-cost disabilities increased from roughly 43 to 170 in the same period. "That's why we have more employees with that many more students and that many more needs," she said.

Dr. Schnee listed investments the district made to support students: additional learning specialists, education assistants and academic-support specialists; more counselors, psychologists and social workers for mental-health support; and professional development focused on the science of reading, belonging and differentiated instruction.

She also called attention to several external funding and cost factors that constrain the district. Oregon caps special-education funding at 11%, she said, while Lake Oswego's share of special-education students is about 14.8%, leaving a funding gap the district must cover. She said high-cost disability reimbursements cover "less than 50%" of actual district spending on those students.

On retirement costs, Dr. Schnee said the most recent PERS valuation produced a 7.6% employer-rate increase effective July 1; the district's share of the governor's proposed statewide assistance would be roughly $450,000 per year while the district's PERS increase will cost about $5,000,000 per year ' a gap of more than $4 million annually.

She also provided a per-day cost estimate for district operations: one day of instruction at current staffing levels equals approximately $450,000. The district has discussed furlough days as a budget option; each furlough day, she said, would save roughly that amount.

Board members repeatedly emphasized the district's gains in graduation rates and outcomes for students with IEPs during the decade of expanded staffing. Director Hartman said the increase from an 88% to a 97% overall graduation rate…