Members of the Medford School District Budget Committee will spend the next two weeks going over a 159-page report containing the district’s $288-million budget proposal for the upcoming school year that is expected to force “emotionally challenging” cuts.

The proposal contains $7.6 million in reductions for the next school year and the potential elimination of 32-and-a-half positions. It comes as district officials brace for an anticipated $15-million shortfall over the next two years.

The committee is composed of the seven-member school board and seven appointed community members, who are charged with crafting a recommendation of the 2024-25 budget for the school board to review and adopt. The committee will meet on May 16 to take public comments before discussing and potentially recommending changes to the proposed budget. Eight votes are required for the committee to make any amendments to the proposal and also pass the recommended budget to the school board for adoption in June.

To emphasize the committee members’ responsibility, Brad Earl, the district’s assistant superintendent of operations, held up and flipped through the report at the outset of the two-hour presentation at Oakdale Middle School Thursday evening.

“We put a lot of work into being accurate and transparent in this book you have in front of you,” Earl said. “We do hope you can take this with you and mark it up as you have community conversations and come up with the intelligent questions that I know you will that will help us guide our work.”

Earl added that it is “emotionally challenging to make these decisions that impact people.”

It was the second time Earl and district Controller John Petash presented the budget situation publicly. The first was April 11, when they went before the school board and discussed the shortfall and the factors that led to it.

According to presentation slides from Thursday’s meeting, the school district saw total revenue and transfers from other funds totaling $184.75 million. The number is up $6.37 million from last school year, but Superintendent Bret Champion said in his budget message that funding increases from the state’s general fund are forecast to increase at rates lower than the district’s increasing costs. State funding in the general fund is slated to increase 3.6% in the upcoming year, according to the budget message, but the following year could be less than 2% based on the very-early school estimate.

Earl and Champion announced in an April 26 press conference the proposal for the 2024-25 school year, which includes using $1.9 million in reserves. While much of the positions on the chopping block can be made through attrition, Earl said, an estimated five to 10 positions could be eliminated.

Earl repeated that estimate Thursday to committee members. He noted it is still too early to tell how many people are retiring at the end of the current school year.

Champion said in the budget message at the meeting that the proposed 32-and-a-half positions that could be cut would save the district approximately $3.6 million.

The position cuts, Champion said, are “an important first step to weather the headwinds” facing public education today.

Inadequate funding, inflation, declining enrollment and decreasing birth rates are all factors, Champion said, which tee up the 2024-25 budget.

“The details in this proposed budget is a deficit budget that supports our priorities,” Champion said, with “preserving a high-quality classroom,” including teachers as the first priority. 

Fourteen people attended Thursday’s committee meeting, including teachers and staff members who were also parents. Thursday’s meeting did not include public comment.

Champion’s message came following his address earlier in the day to North Medford High School students, who staged a “walkout” over the proposed cuts. 

“Fund our schools,” Champion, holding a bullhorn, told them as cars on Biddle Road honked. “Thank you for showing your First Amendment right to share your opinion, and thank you for pointing out that any budget cut, eventually, hurts students.”

During Thursday’s committee meeting, school board members asked the most questions, but a few parents on the committee also chimed in.

Lupe Murillo, a parent of two boys at Wilson Elementary School, asked if committee members would be able to see within the budget proposal which schools might cut teachers and the impact that might have on enrollment. Murillo noted cuts to teachers might have different impacts on the classroom depending on student behavior. 

“That’s’ the level of detail I want to see, and I don’t know if it’s in the book,” Murillo said. 

Earl said there would be no reductions in student-teacher head counts, but that did not mean there would be no impact to the classroom.

“There’s a balancing act that goes on,” he said. 

Murillo said in an interview following the meeting that it is intimidating to be on the budget committee, even though she is already on the district’s diversity equity and inclusion committee.

“It’s never fun to be laid off or lay off people, or approve budget cuts,” Murillo said. “So it is pretty nerve-wracking.”

She said she heard at her workplace that it is hiring and managers are encouraging district employees who face potential elimination to apply.

“I would say to those folks who do get laid off, I’ve been laid off before,” Murillo said. “You just keep going, you keep trying.”

Murillo plans to use the next two weeks reviewing budget materials, as well as reaching out to parents to get their feedback. Murillo will then use that feedback to write questions to district officials, who will answer them at a future committee meeting. 

“Hopefully, (I’ll) have more information and be able to make a better-educated vote,” Murillo said. 

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the total proposed Medford School District budget for the 2024-25 school year