Beaverton School

Beaverton SchoolBeaverton School District leaders are a couple of weeks away from revealing a prioritized list of 41 potential district-wide cuts that will surely lead to deep staffing cuts and higher class sizes in the 2011-12 school year.

Superintendent Jerry Colonna told the district’s Budget Committee Tuesday night that the list represents $46.8 million in reduction options, and 50 percent of those are sustainable.

Every year, a collection of community members and school board members volunteer their time to oversee the budget process and recommend revisions. They're one of few groups in education with a simple name the Beaverton Budget Committee.

Here's how the budget process works, according to the district: Administrative staff prepare a proposed budget, which is presented to the budget committee. The committee reviews the proposed budget and takes public comment. It has the power to recommend revisions before approving the budget for adoption by the school board.

It's not a free for all, however. The budget committee is limited in what it can change. Student transportation, for example, is required by law, and changes in the length of the school year must be approved by employee unions. The district is bound by its own policies and regulations as well.

Over the last several months, the district has collected budget suggestions from staff and community members after Colonna announced that Beaverton faced a projected $30 million to $40 million general fund budget shortfall for next year.

Last week, Mark McMullen, senior economist for the state, reported that Oregon’s economy had turned the corner and was beginning to recover, but not enough to prevent reductions in state services and programs.

In light of the revised state estimates released in the Feb. 15 economic forecast, the Beaverton School District is now bracing to cut $26 million to $33 million from its 2011-12 budget.

Colonna said Tuesday that the district would move forward with a plan to identify $32.8 million in budget reductions.

While that range is a marked improvement from earlier projections, determining what cuts to make remains a daunting challenge for district leaders as they have already been forced to carve $80 million from school budgets in the last three years.