April 20, 2018

The following memo from Superintendent LeBlanc-Esparza and Assistant Superintendent Parker was sent to all community members on Friday, April 20, 2018 at 5:00 PM.

Dear Newberg-Dundee Families,

As we have worked to find solutions to the district’s $4 million budget shortfall, we have engaged staff, students, parents, and the community to determine each group’s priorities. In considering the decisions around reductions, it was important for us to be mindful of the values of our stakeholders while ensuring we are serving students to the best of our ability. Through this process, we heard that maintaining class size was a priority among all groups, while protecting salary and benefits had a high value for staff. 

As we entered into discussions with NEA, we carefully reviewed and considered this feedback and used it as a basis to propose several plans to NEA leadership that valued both maintaining class size and protecting salary and benefits. Specifically, on Wednesday, the district leadership team proposed that NEA members take five furlough days, and take half of next year’s COLA raise. While this proposal would have meant that 10 FTE would need to be cut to get to $4 million, it would not raise elementary class size at all and would have only raised secondary class sizes by one student. Additionally, it would have allowed us to maintain all licensed members’ steps and benefits. 

In response to this proposal, NEA leadership shared that their members were not supportive of any concessions to the current contract. The union leadership team considered the proposals from the district leadership and the voices of their members for many hours during the meeting, and ultimately decided they could not accept the proposal from district leadership. We appreciate the good faith in which NEA approached our discussions, and we understand the leadership team represents its members and has to make decisions based on the desires of the membership. 

While the NEA leadership team did not accept the proposal from district leadership or make concessions to the current contract, they did agree to reduce the licensed contract year by four days. These four days amount to approximately $700,000 in savings for next year. When combining that amount with nearly $2,000,000 in reductions already identified by district leadership, this puts our savings at $2.7 million, leaving approximately $1.3 million in additional reductions that need to be found for next year. 

District leadership has worked hard to be inclusive, collaborative, and flexible in this process, and we now find ourselves in a position where we are left to make some very difficult reductions. How do we get all the way to $4 million in a way that respects the perspectives of our stakeholders and makes minimal impact on our kids? Finding $1.3 million more in reductions is very challenging, and without any concessions beyond four days, district leadership is now left in a position with few options. 

Unfortunately, with more than 85% of the district budget being salaries and benefits, there is no way we can reach the level of cuts needed to address the shortfall without reducing in salaries and benefits. Due to our current contract language, many of the suggested ideas from our stakeholders for reduction and savings related to salaries and benefits are simply not options the district is allowed to pursue. The only feasible option for balancing the budget that is left to district leadership is through a Reduction in Force (RIF). This is the last thing we want to do, since we know that fewer licensed staff means that class sizes will have to increase. We believe that class size matters significantly, and we wish that we had another way to find the savings we need to get to $4 million. Therefore, at this point we are recommending that the Board authorize the Reduction in Force process outlined in our Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Over the next few weeks, Human Resources will begin working on staffing allocation sheets to determine how the RIF will affect class size, particularly at the elementary level. We anticipate upward of 25 licensed FTE could be subject to the RIF process. 

District leadership will be meeting with OSEA leadership for budget discussions, and we will not know the impact on classified staff until these talks are complete.

This is a regrettable position to be in, and we wish that there were other options available that could keep these reductions from affecting staff and class size. 

We greatly value the input of the people in this community and appreciate all those who have shown up at meetings, written emails, answered surveys, and worked hard to help us find a way through this. As we build the proposed budget and work with the budget committee over the next few weeks, we are committed to doing all that we can to honor the voices of all the stakeholders who have invested so much time and thought into this process. 

We recognize that reductions that affect staff and class size are particularly undesirable, and yet we are in a position where it is vital that we take steps to ensure the long term financial health of our school district. We must make sure that high quality learning for all our kids will continue to be possible in the fiscally-challenging years ahead.

Thank you,

Dr. Kym LeBlanc-Esparza

Superintendent

Dave Parker

Assistant Superintendent