By Richard Chauvet
With the current economic crisis, Centennial faces its own budget deficit facing the 2009-2010 school year. The latest estimations show that the Centennial School District is going to face at least a 10% loss in funding from the federal government, with more money expected to be removed from the budget before the end of this school year.
The 65 million dollars that was given to the district last year is expected to drop by at least 6 million, forcing the district office and superintendent to redraw the allocation of funds for the district for the next upcoming school year. There are still two more cuts expected, both of at least 3 million dollars. Although nothing is considered final, many people on the district committee fear that the cash struggle is going to have a terrible effect on programs, administrators, teachers, and students.
The Talon was given an exclusive press conference with the district office in which Robert McKean, Centennial’s Superintendent, and Rick Larson, Centennial’s Director of Business, to answer interview questions about the budget issues.
“Everyone is feeling the effects of this recession, and our current budget shortage is just one of the many effects,” McKean stated. “We are planning as well as we can to preserve as many positions as possible.”
The conference opened up a lot of perspectives that a lot of people may not take into consideration when discussing the proposed budget cuts. The near certainty that some teachers and programs are going to be cut have left quite a few people upset that more is not being done to keep things within the status quo.
In accordance to the teacher’s contracts the about how much these cuts will impact her life and the lives of her students.
“The most hurtful thing to me would be not being able to see my juniors graduate,” McFaul said. “It really makes me emotional.”
McFaul feels that these cut are indicative of a larger problem. “Society doesn’t value education,” she said.
Some teachers and parents echoed this sentiment last fall, when Centennial bond failed to pass. If the bond measure had passed we would have built three new schools in the Centennial district. Possibly providing jobs to those teachers who lost theirs. The district budget is approximately $65 million dollars. The cut was originally planned to be $6.5 million dollars, which would be 10% of our overall budget. On April 6 the budget cut raised to $7.8 million as a result of a new assessment of the state’s budget. Soon we could face a 15% cut of the overall budget or even similar to a 20% cut of the budget as other Oregon schools are facing. “The reason teachers are getting hit the hardest is because out of the whole school’s budget, 85% goes to their salaries.” AnnouncedSuperintendent Bob McKean.
The budget deficit in Oregon is five times greater than in 2003, the last time the state experienced significant budget reductions. Every person in the district will be impacted in some manner, including students,” stated Baier.
Students and the teachers who will be left behind are also frustrated by what this teacher cuts mean to the school.
“We are in the business of educating students,” exclaimed business/tech teacher Adrian Spencer, who is not on the cut-list.
Setting the budget aside, it is the emotional impact of these lay-offs that are affecting the students at CHS and the teachers every day.
“It’s my life here,” explained McFaul. “No matter what this has meant the world to me. I have not had the chance yet to make the impact I wanted to make.”