The Philomath School Board approved the district’s 2026-27 budget during its regular meeting Thursday, adopting a spending plan that required cutting approximately $1 million amid growing financial pressures on Oregon school districts.
The board voted 4-0 on two resolutions — one adopting the budget and one making appropriations — with one board member absent. The total adopted budget comes to $61,351,351 across all funds, with general fund appropriations of $27,760,500.
Board Chair Tom Klipfel acknowledged the difficult decisions that shaped the budget.
“We did have to cut out right around $1 million,” Klipfel said. “We did that through staff attrition, particularly on the instructional assistant side — people are leaving that we’re just not replacing. And then one licensed (staff) and one admin through, again, some departures and restructuring.”
Klipfel said additional cuts came from reducing transfers to reserves, and he warned that the road ahead may be harder still.
“Next year will likely be much more painful for us,” he said.
Oregon school districts are grappling with major budget shortfalls driven by declining enrollment, rising operating costs and federal poverty data revisions that are reducing state funding.
Later in the June 18 meeting, the board unanimously approved a reduction in force declaration for the 2026-27 school year. Superintendent Susan Halliday outlined the scope of the staffing reductions.
According to a memo from Halliday to the board, the reduction in force eliminates a total of 6.83 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions — 1.0 in administration, 1.0 in licensed staff and 4.83 in classified positions. She noted that most of those reductions are being absorbed through retirements and resignations, with 4.33 of the classified FTE positions addressed that way.
“We know that we have right now one position that we will enact reduction in force as a classified position from full time to half time,” Halliday said at the meeting.
That means 0.5 FTE will involve an active reduction of a current staff member. Under the district’s collective bargaining agreements, individuals whose positions are eliminated retain rights of recall if comparable positions are reinstated.
The board also unanimously approved a new collective bargaining agreement with the Oregon School Employees Association, the union representing classified employees. Halliday confirmed that OSEA members had already ratified the contract.
The two-year agreement includes a 4% across-the-board cost-of-living wage increase effective July 1 for the 2026-27 school year, followed by a 3.75% increase effective July 1, 2027, for the 2027-28 school year. All eligible employees will also receive a step increase on each of those dates.
The contract also includes salary schedule adjustments involving five positions. The district will continue to pay the 6% employee contribution to PERS on behalf of classified staff.
Teaching staff contracts were approved in March.