Bend-La Pine Schools Hold the Budget Line

No major cuts on the horizon — that was the message conveyed at the Bend-La Pine School Board’s budget meeting Tuesday night.

Superintendent Ron Wilkinson presented his budget proposal for next school year.

The district says it will be working with about $124 million next year, slightly less than the $125 million they had for the current year.

“In terms of impact on students, that means three to four less school days, higher class sizes as they go to school on a daily basis,” said John Rexford, deputy superintendent, “Those are the kinds of reductions that have been made, to make sure that we live within our means.”

The district also says they were fairly conservative with their money in the first biennium. As a result, they now be hit as hard as other districts around the state.

“The bottom line is, we’re all working on significantly reduced resources for children,” Rexford said, “and we’re all trying to do our best to deliver as much program as we can, given those financial constraints.”

At Tuesday night’s meeting the budget committee, made up of the school board and an equal number of appointed citizens, voted on who will chair the panel.

The budget committee will meet for the next month, working to review finalize the numbers. Officials say the next two meetings will be key in getting things done.