Superintendent's Office

Dear WLWV Community,

At yesterday evening’s School Board meeting, I presented a projected budget reduction of $15 million for the 2025-2026 school year. We’ve reached this projection based on some key factors (please read below) including the Governor’s proposed state school fund of $11.36 billion and the unexpected PERS rate increases that alone create a $6 million increase for our district next year. 

This announcement is earlier than anticipated, but with the School Board poised to make a decision at the end of the month regarding the possibility of consolidating one or more of the three smallest schools in the district, an analysis of the district’s prospective budget was necessary. 

Across Oregon, school communities can expect reductions. The proposed state school fund increase of 11% is not adequate when economic costs are closer to a 15% percent increase and the PERS retirement rates are doubling next year. While these reductions will be challenging, it is important to remind ourselves that West Linn-Wilsonville is an exceptional place to live and learn and we are committed to keeping it this way. 

What are the expenditures that create a need for a budget reduction?

There are several factors for budget reductions. Some of the biggest factors include:

• Declining enrollment — the district has approximately 950 fewer students enrolled than it did prior to the pandemic. This is a national and statewide trend, paired with a declining birth rate. Oregon has 35,000 fewer public school students since the pandemic. School districts are funded per student, which means districts are receiving less funding than they previously did. WLWV anticipates another decline of approximately 100 students next year.
• Increased staffing levels — The district intentionally used one-time pandemic funds to add staff towards academic and mental health support for students recovering from the pandemic’s impacts. This is no longer sustainable. Reductions to staffing began last year and need to continue this year to be able to finance the district within the state’s funding allocations. 
• PERS Retirement rate increases will be double from last year — This unexpected increase is an approximately $6 million additional cost to our budget next year. 
• Student needs have increased — Mental health needs continue to rise and special education identification has gone up across Oregon and the nation.There is possible legislation to raise the special education funding from 11% to 15% in Oregon to match the national average. This needs to be additional funding and not a re-distribution of current funding. 
• Increased costs with materials, insurance, workers compensation, utilities, transportation — Overall operating costs have increased considerably for school districts similar to what we all see at the grocery store, gas station, utilities, insurance, etc. Some increases are expected to rise by 15-20% next year. 
• Unfunded Mandates — Newer legislation has resulted in increased costs to employers (particularly schools) without additional state revenue provided or factored into the state school fund increase (e.g. Paid Leave Oregon SB 1515, Classified Unemployment SB 489). 

Where will reductions come from?

The $15 million in reductions are approximately 9% of the General Fund expenditures. At this time, the planned reductions will be taken from both non-classroom personnel and programs as well as classroom personnel. As the district works with the labor associations, more specifics will be communicated accordingly.

District-Level and School Reductions (non-classroom) - Approximately $7.46 Million

• Administrator Positions, District Office staffing, District and School Budgets
• Professional Learning, District and School Budgets, and Software 
• Support Staff and Programs, Paraeducators, Operations (staff and services)

Classroom Reductions (teachers) - Approximately $7.54 Million

• Primary Schools: 30 FTE (Average Class Size: 28)
• Middle Schools: 11 FTE
• High Schools: 17 FTE

How does the Small Schools decision factor into the budget process?

On January 27, the School Board is expected to make a decision based on community input, the Small School Task Force findings report, Long Range Planning Committee statement and information provided by the district at the January 13 school board meeting. The consolidation of a primary school yields approximately $1.45 million in savings and would be directly applied to lowering class sizes across the primary level (reducing 19 FTE instead of 30 FTE, resulting in average class sizes of 25 instead of 28). 

Can the District increase revenue somehow?

There are some limited ways that the district can increase revenue, examples include:

• Local Option Levy - The community passed a local option levy in 2023. These tax dollars fund additional teachers and offset federal and state grants that come in lower for our district than others due to demographics (e.g. income level of community). These positions are already factored into our budget. 
• Capital Bond - If voters pass a renewal of the Capital Bond in November 2025, these funds would help relieve the General Fund budget of some high-cost facility items. Capital funds cannot be used for daily operations (e.g. salaries, utilities, curriculum, computer software) but can be used for building repairs, safety improvements, or technology hardware replacement.
• Increases to facility rental fees — The district has not raised these rates since prior to the pandemic. The district has increased the fees to better cover the cost of maintaining and staffing our buildings and fields in evenings and weekends for community use. Fees and rental rates are now closer aligned to similar districts in the Portland-Metro area.

What is the 2025-26 Budget Process and Timeline?

It is still early. There are education groups including teachers, administrators and school boards advocating to legislators for increases to funding next year. We will make reductions cautiously while watching the news in Salem. Any changes that increase funding will be prioritized towards keeping class sizes lower and restoring support staff working directly with students. We will continue to keep our community informed over the next months. 

The official budget process begins in April for community members to provide input on budget priorities. The first Budget Committee Meeting is scheduled for May 19. The School Board will approve the 2025-26 budget in June. 

It is never easy to make reductions and there will be great care taken with each decision, collaboration with associations, input from the community considered, and communication along the way. We appreciate our community’s engagement, support, and partnership with our school leaders, teachers and students. Again, West Linn-Wilsonville is an exceptional place to live and learn and we are committed to maintaining that experience for our students, staff, and community. 

Please keep up-to-date with district messages, school messages, and website updates for accurate information about the budget and planning for next year. 

Most sincerely,
Kathy Ludwig, Superintendent

Dear WLWV Families,

It is with great excitement that I welcome all of our students, staff, families, and community members to the 2023-24 school year. 

As we get ready to embark on another school year together, I would like to share with you this year’s theme:  Elevate. Building on our good work from last year (“belief & belonging”), we will focus on ways we can  elevate the student experience in the classroom, our teamwork, and our leadership thinking. 

• The student experience — Where can we expand access? Do all students feel a sense of belonging? How do we create meaningful engagement learning opportunities? How do we elevate our students’ experience at school?
• Teamwork — How can student groups, teachers’ Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and district departments leverage collective thinking and diverse perspectives to elevate learning outcomes for students? 
• Leadership Thinking — Every educator and student has the opportunity to lead; in their classroom, on the field, in the school, in the community.  Elevated leadership considers complexities that may exist or arise in classroom or school settings or community situations. Like the submerged half of an iceberg, there is so much we cannot see immediately unless we take the time to listen and learn from one another; to take a deeper dive towards what is happening below the surface in order to make more informed, collaborative and better decisions.

You will see in our District Integrated Plan and our  School Work Plans, which will be updated this school year, goals that build upon, or  elevate, our progress and efforts from last year, so that all students live into their potential and achieve beyond their own expectations. 

I enjoyed seeing a number of students and families at our Family Empowerment Center back-to-school resource event, new student orientations, and other back-to-school events. It is clear that West Linn-Wilsonville is a community bursting with support for our schools and our students.

Please visit our district website and school websites to review important back-to-school information and do not hesitate to call your school offices or our district office if you need any assistance. Thank you for partnering with us and learning with us. 

We are all looking forward to our first day of school, tomorrow, August 29th, and for this new school year.

Most sincerely,

Kathy Ludwig

Dear WLWV Community,

Oregon has made significant investments in public education in the last decade in the form of targeted initiatives and grants, such as:

• High School Success (Graduation Improvement)
• Student Investment Account (Closing Achievement Gaps, Supporting Mental Health)
• Continuous Improvement Planning (Annual District Improvement Goals)
• Career and Technical Education (CTE courses and pathways)
• Every Day Matters (Increasing Regular Attendance)
• Early Indicator and Intervention Systems (Keeping Students on Path to Graduation)

Each of these investments comes with specific priorities, planning, timelines and accountability measures. The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) has created a new framework that brings these six programs together into one integrated process and accountability system, called the Integrated Initiatives Application. Instead of reporting on six separate grants/initiatives, there will now be one integrated system going forward.

Yesterday evening, our School Board heard from staff about this new integrated approach and approved the draft document of goals and strategies outlined in our district’s application. 

In the new application, the district identified academic goals, strategies and longitudinal performance growth targets to be measured in 2024, 2025 and 2026. The targets will measure these academic areas, to name a few:

• 3rd Grade Reading performance
• 5th Grade Math performance
• 8th Grade Reading and Math performance
• K-12 attendance
• 9th Grade On Track
• Advance Placement, International Baccalaureate, CTE Enrollment
• High School Graduation 

Once our application is approved by ODE, we will make it available to the community on our website and through our communications. Engaging our community in setting priorities for our schools, monitoring progress, and evaluating outcomes is important to us. Thank you to those who participated in the recent community meetings and various focus groups as we developed our application. 

More Than 2,000 Responses to December Panorama Family Survey

The Panorama Survey is one of the measurement tools we use to ask students, staff, and families about their experiences and our efforts towards creating a culture and climate of welcome, belonging, and inclusion in our schools. Results from the survey help us identify any barriers that we can mitigate to improve these efforts.

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback through the Panorama Family Survey this past December. District staff have spent the past several weeks reviewing your input as part of our continued efforts to improve our school communities for all students. Survey results will also be shared with our K-8 PTA leadership teams in a March meeting, as we partner together to improve and increase family engagement.

Panorama Family Survey Takeaways

Survey responses provided valuable feedback around several aspects of family engagement and school fit, such as: 

• 76% of families see our schools as a good fit for their culture background
• 88% of families feel their child has (some, quite a bit, tremendous) sense of belonging; with 26% only feeling “some” sense of belonging
• 48% of families indicate that their student is (quite, extremely) comfortable asking for help from school adults
• 61% of families indicated that they visited their child’s school every few months, monthly or weekly; 60% of families identified busyness as a barrier to more involvement
• Open-ended comments indicated restrictions from COVID still factored into feeling disconnected to their child’s school 

Survey responses from parents/caregivers assist us in identifying “gaps” in our system, places for improvement, current practices, and adjusting strategies to ensure better outcomes for students. 

Thank You for Your Continued Partnership

We know that many families remain engaged with their schools through PTA-sponsored opportunities, evening events, co-curricular athletics and activities, volunteer opportunities both during and outside the school day, and so much more. We’re committed to increasing opportunities and access points for our families to continue being involved. Thank you for your generous and tireless support of our students, staff, and school communities. 

Sincerely,

Kathy Ludwig, Superintendent

Dear WLWV Community,

It is with great excitement and anticipation that I welcome all of our students, staff, families, and community members to the 2022-23 school year. 

As we get ready to embark on another school year together, I would like to share this year’s theme: Belief and Belonging. In West Linn-Wilsonville, we strive to create learning communities that instill belief in our students and create a sense of belonging for everyone. We know from research and from personal experiences that students who feel connected to their school and confident in their abilities will thrive in the classroom, the community, and in life after public education.

I have enjoyed seeing students and families at our Family Empowerment Center back-to-school resource event, new student orientations, and other back-to-school events. It is clear that West Linn-Wilsonville is a community bursting with support for our schools and our students.

Please visit our district website and school websites to review important back-to-school information and do not hesitate to call your school offices or our district office if you need any information.  Thank you for partnering with us and learning with us. 

We are excited for our first day of school, tomorrow August 30th, and for this new school year.

Sincerely,

Kathy Ludwig, Superintendent