51萝莉

Tough fiscal calls, carried out thoughtfully, can contribute to family and staff engagement and a positive outcome

School district budgets will be challenging for the foreseeable future. The ESSER funds that supported additional staffing and students returning to classrooms through the COVID pandemic and its aftermath are now gone. Our school districts have been left to right-size their staffing levels.

In addition, school districts in many places are seeing the peak of 12th-grade students. Education Week predicted in its coverage last December that enrollment across Western states will drop by 20 percent over the next 18 years.

These pressures require school district leaders to engage the community and operate with transparency and trust with interested parties, while strengthening support across the system. Both of us, drawing on nearly 30 years of experience as superintendents in Oregon, have developed practical strategies for communicating with school communities when the news we share is unwelcome and painful.