ENDING FUND BALANCE (IN $) FOR CORBETT SCHOOL DISTRICT 2020-2024

This graph is from the district management’s analysis of the financial report prepared by Umpqua Valley Financial in January of 2025 and summarizing the trend of the previous five years. Critical to understand is that the board saw these these declines in their board reports but failed to act in the preceding years.

My Perspective on the Budget Crisis

Over the last board term, our district went from a surplus of more than $2 million to a deficit of $3 million. This crisis came to a head at the end of 2024, requiring $1 million in cuts—including staff positions, student services, music, and athletics—and a $2 million emergency loan just to meet payroll in January.

There are multiple causes behind this budget crisis. The superintendent bears responsibility, and there were significant leadership transitions during this period. The pandemic also added major complexity. But the explanation most often cited by current board members is a series of "accounting errors" made by the business manager at the Multnomah Education Service District (MESD), with whom we had outsourced this work.

Those errors absolutely occurred—but we can’t blame a multi-year, $5 million shortfall on one person. A core responsibility of any school board is to put systems in place that prevent this kind of collapse, whether the problem is caused by human error or mismanagement. That didn’t happen. According to the Oregon Department of Education, if we had missed payroll, the district could have shut down permanently. The deficit trend was visible for years, and the board failed to take corrective action. That’s a governance failure of the board.

It is also essential to recognize that just before this trend began the board made a decision to significantly reduce enrollment. Let me be clear, I support small schools. However, what the board did not do was adequately reduce expenditures at the same time that there were reducing the income brought in by each student. This greatly contributed to the mess we are now sorting out.

It’s also important to note that just before this downward trend began, the board made the decision to significantly reduce student enrollment. Let me be clear: I support small schools. But when the board reduced enrollment, they didn’t make proportional adjustments to spending. Every student in the district bring state money with them, so if we have less students then we have to spend less. This mismatch between revenue and expenses played a major role in the financial mess we’re now trying to untangle.

We will be dealing with this problem for the next 6-10 years. We will be paying $ 290,00 / year for eight years to repay the $ 2 million loan from MESD and we will be needing to save ~ $ 200,000 / year for 10 years to restore our reserves. Once all is said and done that means we have to pay $ 540,000 / year for almost a decade just to get us back to where we started at the beginning of this board term. That money could otherwise be supporting our students through extracurricular opportunities, CTE offerings, supporting their teachers, funding athletics, fixing facilities, or any of the many priorities of the District.

We’ll be dealing with the consequences of these decisions for the next 6–10 years. The district will be paying $290,000 per year for eight years to repay the $2 million loan. On top of that, we’ll need to save approximately $200,000 per year for a decade to rebuild our reserves. That’s $540,000 per year—money that could otherwise be going to student programs, CTE offerings, teacher support, athletics, facility repairs, and other district priorities. And that is all just to get us where we were at the beginning of the current board’s term.

We need a change in board leadership. I have the experience to provide strong financial oversight and the skills to navigate tight budgets while keeping students at the center of our decisions. I’m committed to listening respectfully, collaborating with the community, and restoring stability and trust in our district’s future.

More specific information about what happened can be found here at this community overview of the budget crisis.