Budget committee hears district's plan to use one-time funds as enrollment falls; Tim elected chair

Tim was elected board chair at the start of the meeting, and trustees immediately approved the minutes of the June 11, 2025 budget committee meeting by voice vote.

Andy Gardner, superintendent of Greater Albany Public SD 8J, delivered the district's budget message, telling trustees that a mix of state revenue shifts and declining enrollment has compressed the district's options. "We started with a $10 million deficit and, with new revenue adjustments, pared that down," Gardner said, noting a May adjustment of about $2.2 million tied to corrected teacher experience ratings and a state revenue forecast that added roughly $380 million statewide.

The nut of the presentation was enrollment: Gardner said Greater Albany declined about 4% in the most recent year (roughly 367 students) and that the district faces a nearly 9.7% drop in some cohorts since 2022. "Losing 360 students is equal to Oak Grove Elementary going away," he said, explaining why the district must right-size staffing and facilities.

Jane Nofziger, the district business manager, walked trustees through the numbers behind the compression. The board's original gap figure for the coming biennium was about $10 million; grant adjustments, updated experience ratings and one-time funds decreased the budget cuts to about $4 million, Nofziger said. The proposed budget assumes a 3.5% COLA tied to the CPIU and uses one-time fund balances (approximately $4.2 million carried forward) to smooth the transition to a smaller enrollment base. She told the committee the projected ending general fund balance for 2025-26 is about $15.3 million, which the board's policy anchors to an 8% reserve level.

Trustees and staff discussed staffing reductions and safeguards: Gardner identified total staffing reductions of 45 FTE across certified, classified and confidential positions but said only 13 classroom positions were eliminated to protect class-size levels. He described recall lists and vacancy-management as tools to rehire when possible. Nofziger also detailed the district's use of grant funds—SIA, Title I, Medicaid—and a May Medicaid payment that enabled some FTE adjustments.

Finance and operations staff reviewed other pressure points: PERS costs are projected to rise significantly in 2027-28 when certain rate credits expire, and the district's transportation, nutrition and capital funds face both planned expenses and constrained balances. The district is planning purchases of two buses and several vans for 2026-27 and anticipates a $250,000 planned drawdown for the nutrition fund due to higher food and labor costs after switching vendors.

Board members pressed staff on curriculum funding. One trustee proposed creating a dedicated set-aside (a sinking fund) to smooth the roughly $1 million cost of a major curriculum adoption on a seven-year cycle; the trustee suggested setting aside about $150,000 per year. Staff said they would return with a recommendation for a dedicated curriculum fund and indicated such a change would originate in the general fund and be considered between approval and adoption of the budget.

The meeting closed after a brief procedural motion to adjourn. No formal vote tallies were recorded in the transcript beyond voice approvals.

Next steps: staff will return to the committee on June 3 with any recommendations on curriculum funding and any updates on grant applications that would change appropriations.