2026-27 Budget

Here's the video from the Budget 101 session. You can see the questions asked and the answers below.

Questions and Answers:

What percentage of our payroll goes to PERS?

• PERS is about 26% of salary costs, which is the cost to pay our PERS bond (12%) and to pay the PERS employer contribution (14%)
  • A PERS obligation bond is a way to borrow money that has to be paid back with interest
  • The district invests bond receipts and the earned interest is used to offset PERS costs
• Our rates include a reduction for the PERS Bond savings that are applied to “buy down” our rate, as well as a state-wide reduction of 1.68% for just this biennium:
  • Tier 1 / Tier 2 increased by 10.27% from 8.43% to 17.02%
  • OPSRP increased by 9.93% from 5.59% to 13.84%
• PERS rates and explanations for the changes are on the PERS Website here 
• PERS rates are set each biennium in odd years

There was a recent decision to stop having building subs - how much money were we able to save from that? And where can I find that in the budget? 
It is unclear if discontinuing building based substitutes will be a cost savings. The amount saved depends on the number of substitutes that are needed to be called during the school year. Building based substitutes were not district employees, and their use did not replace an ESS substitute. It was simply a way to make sure schools had a ready substitute on hand who knew the school and students. When use of the building based substitutes dropped below 90% their use was discontinued. 

Is RSD pursuing the State Summer School Grant? If so, is it for K-5 or K-8?
Yes. ODE just released the competitive grant application. Submissions are due by March 20. We likely won’t know the amount of the award until sometime in April. We are applying for K-12.

Is there an easy way to tell what categories items belong under in the budget? Where can I find a description of the functions and objects (what they mean and what is included in them)?
Budget categories are determined by ODE in the Program Budgeting and Accounting Manual (PBAM). 

The budget and expenditures are grouped by three elements:

1. Fund
   1. 100 General Fund: Unrestricted costs are primarily budgeted in the General Fund, along with essential operating expenses
   2. 200 Grant/Special Revenue Funds: Generally supplement (not replace) the general fund; these are often restricted by the funder to specific purposes
   3. 300 Debt Funds: Restricted to managing our bond repayment
   4. 400 Capital Funds: are used to manage bond-funded projects and Construction Excise Tax projects; both are restricted to specific uses related to capital construction efforts
2. Function
   1. 1000 Instruction Services
   2. 2000 Support Services
   3. 3000 Community Services
   4. 4000 Facilities Acquisition and Construction
3. Object
   1. 100 - Salaries, stipends, additional hours, taxable compensation
   2. 200 - Taxes and benefits
   3. 300 - Services (charter school payments, utilities, property services and repairs, contractors, substitutes, etc)
   4. 400 - Supplies and equipment
   5. 500 - Property, buildings, technology, or equipment purchases exceeding $5,000 and lasting longer than one year
   6. 600 - Dues, fees, taxes, principal and interest payments​​​​​​

On the purple assumptions sheet, the “all other sources” resources category goes from an estimated $7.7m this year to $4.6m next year. Why is that expected to go down by $3m?
All Other Sources is the sum of General Fund revenue other than the State School Fund Formula revenue.

• Local sources - we believe we will have a reduction due to interest earning. As we spend down available cash balances we also reduce interest earning
• Intermediate sources - this is primarily the pass through funds we receive from Multnomah ESD, or what is called “transit” funds. Transit funds are the balance of funds available after we pay for special education services (outplacements) and regionally-shared technology and infrastructure. We had accrued a transit balance and pulled that as one time funds for this year ($3 million); $500,000 to $1million is typical.
• State Sources - this is our reimbursement for high cost disability expense, and the amount has been reduced each year due to the growing need across the state. We do not know what portion of our actual costs will be reimbursed until we actually receive the payment. The reduction reflects the overall trend in the last five years.
• Federal sources - this is the partial reimbursement we receive for our JROTC program, and in applicable years, FEMA disaster funds.

​​​​​​Does the grant money show up in the general fund?
No. General fund is fund 100. All grants are in Fund 200.

Why are you showing a 5% increase for health insurance but it’s capped at 4.5% by OEBB?
OEBB offers many plans across the state. They have a policy to cap average policy increases to 4.5% across all of the plans. The district offers only a selection of those plans; our specific selection within those plans may be more or less than the 4.5% average (e.g. Keizer Plan 1 could be a 10% increase, but Moda Plan 3 is a 2% increase - an average of 6%)

Schools are moving toward offering dual language programs. How much is this expense? Do we have a plan to offset?
Dual language programs have minimal additional startup expenses related to additional curriculum materials. Those costs have been covered by the Intensive Coaching grant. When new materials are purchased, materials for DLI will be part of the purchase and not additional. DLI classrooms are staffed as part of the school staffing plan, not with additional FTE.

Position 1: Aaron Muñoz (board member, term ends 6/30/29)
Position 2: Joyce Rosenau (board member, term ends 6/30/29)
Position 3: Michael Reyes (board member, term ends 6/30/29)
Position 4: Cayle Tern (board member, term ends 6/30/29)
Position 5: Patty Carrera (board member, term ends 6/30/27)
Position 6: Ana Gonzalez Muñoz (board member, term ends 6/30/27)
Position 7: Francisco Ibarra (board member, term ends 6/30/27)
Position 8: Vacant (community member, term ends 6/30/26)
Position 9: William Ohle (community member, term ends 6/30/26)
Position 10: Vacant (community member, term ends 6/30/26)
Position 11: Victoria Rizzo (community member, term ends 6/30/27)
Position 12: Catherine Nicewood (community member, term ends 6/30/27)
Position 13: Kim Jacobs (community member, term ends 6/30/28)
Position 14: Margaret Breithaupt (community member, term ends 6/30/28)