Dear Woodburn Community,

I am honored to present this year’s budget proposal for the Woodburn School District, shaped by the values that define who we are: Accountability, Cultural Diversity, Equity, Family and Community Partnerships, Civic Responsibility, Lifelong Learning, and Multilingualism. This budget is more than numbers on a page, it is a reflection of our community’s deep commitment to the success of each student.

As a district, we stand firmly in our promise to engage, inspire, and prepare each student to learn, lead, and contribute toward building a more equitable community, both locally and globally. Every decision reflected in this budget has been made with that mission in mind.

We recognize that Accountability to our students, families, and community is critical. Annually, our budget development provides us an opportunity to reflect upon our use of resources in order to further strengthen our stewardship of public resources and community trust and maximize services for our students. Our investments must drive toward our collective vision: a diverse, multilingual, and equitable community of learners where each student is supported and prepared to succeed.

This budget strengthens our work to celebrate and honor Cultural Diversity and Multilingualism. We will continue to support our dual language programs, a proud cornerstone of our community; provide culturally relevant curriculum and training, and uplift the languages and traditions that make Woodburn such a vibrant place to learn.

Equity remains a guiding principle. Our investments target closing opportunity gaps, providing academic and social-emotional support, and ensuring that each student, regardless of background, has what they need to thrive.

We recognize that Family and Community Partnerships are central to student success. We maintain the importance of our families to engage meaningfully with schools, strengthen the partnership to improve learning, and deepen collaboration with local partners who share our goals for students.

By nurturing Civic Responsibility and Lifelong Learning, we aim to empower students not only to succeed academically but also to become active, thoughtful contributors to their communities.

This budget represents not only an investment in today’s students but in the future of Woodburn itself. Through careful stewardship of resources, strategic planning, and collaboration with all of our students, families, staff, and community members, we will continue moving toward a Woodburn School District where every learner is engaged, inspired, and prepared for success.

Over the course of the year we engaged with our community to hear what priorities our students, staff, and families have for well-rounded education, equity advanced, engaged community and strengthening systems and capacity. Priorities such as social, emotional, and behavioral support, educational assistants in classrooms, improved attendance, community partnerships, learning opportunities for staff, and career and technical education were identified. In our budget we continue to prioritize and maintain investments in these priorities. We are maintaining our number of school counselors, social workers, and behavior specialists. Additionally, by utilizing high school success dollars previously being used to purchase student spots at the Willamette Career Academy, we are opening career and technical education classes here on campus so that more of our high school students can access.

We are all aware of how fragile the State of Oregon’s school funding model is. The state has struggled to fund schools at the needed levels, for many years. This has left many districts relying on temporary funding sources as enrollment drops. Woodburn has largely resisted relying on temporary fundings sources to eliminate budgeted staffing gaps. Last year this budget committee did the difficult work of reducing staffing levels, from central office administrators to instructional assistants, through attrition and reassignment, to more closely align our staffing levels with student enrollment. Through reduced spending, strategic staffing decisions, and tapping into our ending fund balance, Woodburn had positioned itself to be in a healthy financial situation moving into the next biennium

The current projected Oregon State School Fund budget based on the Governor’s originally proposed $11.36 billion budget is only enough to allow Woodburn School District to maintain current staffing levels and program options that are reflective of projected enrollment. It is important to note that while our State School Fund grant amount is increasing by 5.8%, that increase is all eaten up with roll up costs alone, such as increases in PERS, and salaries and benefits. It does not provide us the necessary resources to add on or expand programs or staffing beyond what is required to serve our current enrollment. We’ll be moving forward with cautious optimism, as we move into bargaining with both Associations and somewhat uncertain future federal funding.

At this time our understanding is that the federal funding model should not change much going into the next school year and funding should be relatively stable. With that said, we will continue looking for opportunities to increase efficiency in order to brace Woodburn should there be a change to future federal funding. While we cannot predict the full extent of possible future federal funding changes, our goal is to work to minimize the impact of possible changes on students, staff, and the Woodburn School District community.

Thank you for your ongoing support and commitment to our shared mission, vision, and values. Together, we are building a stronger future for every student and every family in Woodburn.

Budget Assumptions:

• A State School Fund allocation of $70,933,404 based on a $11.36 billion state budget.

• The investment of 49% of the biennial allocation.

• Our ADM (student enrollment) will remain relatively flat

• An anticipated reduction of $371,462 in Title funds

Expenditure Assumptions

• We will honor negotiated contracts with licensed and classified staff. Total General Fund staffing costs are $71,582,746 and represent 79% of expenditures.

• Ending fund balance and contingency of $5,751,578, 5% of the general fund revenue (the lowest allowable amount per Board policy)

• Per student allocations at buildings will remain the same as the prior budget year.

Staffing and Program Assumptions

• We will maintain current staffing levels aligned with student enrollment

• We have reduced extend hours in order to maintain current FTE levels

• We are increased licensed positions by 1.3 FTE (Elementary PE Teacher)

• We are increasing classified positions by 15 FTE (Primarily to address SPED needs)

• We are reducing administrator positions by 1 FTE (Assistant Director of Student Services)

With gratitude and determination,

Juan Larios

Superintendent