Skip to main content

About

LOSD Budget Cuts for the 2025-26 School Year

At the December 16th, 2024 school board meeting, LOSD began sharing news of potential budget cuts. Due to the estimated state school fund, LOSD staffing ratios, and rising PERS costs, the district business office anticipates a $12 million shortfall. LOSD will continue to provide regular updates via ParentSquare to families as more information becomes available. The below information will be updated as we receive messages from LOSD regarding the budget challenges.

In the News:

Messages from LOSD:

Budget Update & Staffing Reduction, Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Schiele - Published in ParentSquare on April 9, 2025

Dear LOSD Families,

Our schools and staff are at the heart of our community, which is why it’s especially difficult to share news about the staffing reductions planned for the 2025–26 school year. As discussed in previous updates, we have approached this complex and deeply personal process with great care and consideration. While many are already aware of the impacts at your school, I want to provide a broader, districtwide perspective for our entire community.

Like many districts across Oregon, Lake Oswego School District is facing a significant budget shortfall due to unstable state and federal funding and sharp increases in public employee retirement system obligations. As a result, we must make difficult decisions about aligning our staffing and spending with available resources, always with our students’ learning and well-being as our top priority.

We know this news is unsettling. These reductions impact valued educators and support staff who make a difference in our schools daily. Each decision has been made thoughtfully, following state law and our collective bargaining agreements that prioritize seniority and licensure. This means some staff members will transition to different schools or roles in our district. Decisions were made in close collaboration with school and employee association leaders.

LOSD has strategically used state and federal grants, along with our reserves, to support students in the wake of the pandemic—delaying reductions longer than many districts and ensuring students receive the support they need during a critical time. For example, we have invested over $1 million in classroom teachers across all elementary schools to maintain single-grade-level classrooms. We also expanded nursing across the district to support students’ medical plans and academic support in our middle and high schools.

Even with these investments, the needs of our students have continued to grow. While LOSD’s overall enrollment has remained steady, the number of students requiring specialized support has grown significantly. We’ve seen an increase of more than 400 students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), almost doubling the number of our students with IEPs since 2014. In response, we have added learning specialists, mental health professionals, and classroom support staff to ensure every student experiences a supportive, high-quality learning environment. 

Our intentional investments have been worth it. Our high school graduation rate has climbed from 88% in 2013 to 97% in 2024.  But now, with inadequate state funding and rising costs, we can no longer rely on reserves alone. We must make tough choices to ensure a sustainable path forward.

How We Made Decisions
Our top priority through this budgeting process has been protecting students and their educational experience. We started by identifying areas of reduction furthest from the core classroom. Our focus has been on operational efficiencies—adjustments we could make without eliminating entire programs or critical services. We prioritized maintaining low class sizes and preserving essential learning experiences and vital supports.

Staffing Adjustments for the 2025–26 School Year
Based on the proposed State School Fund allocation for the 2025-27 biennium, LOSD needs to reduce our 2025-26 staffing by approximately $10 million. 

  • District-level and site-level support staffing reductions: $6.7 million
  • Classroom staffing reductions: $3.375 million

District-Level and Site-Level Reductions
Support staffing reductions (administration, licensed, classified): 64 positions
We are adjusting staffing across several departments and support services. Position and operational reductions include administrators, school resource officer, librarian, district and school administrative assistants, facility operations, elementary and middle school specialists, wellness professionals, and licensed and classified academic support staff positions. Additionally, we have reduced district and school expenditures.

Classroom Staffing Reductions
Elementary school teacher reductions: 7 positions
Protecting current class size averages:

  • Kindergarten: 1:25 
  • Grades 1–3: 1:26
  • Grades 4–5: 1:28

To preserve core class sizes, we are reducing innovation (I-Lab) and physical education (PE) teachers’ time in our elementary schools. Students will continue to engage in I-Lab during one-week blocks. PE, music, and library classes will be scheduled on a four-day rotation, consisting of one day for PE, one day for library, and two days for music every four days. This adjustment leads to approximately 30% less time with a licensed PE teacher throughout the school year. Despite these changes, we are dedicated to delivering high-quality PE instruction during the scheduled times and promoting physical activity during recess and core class time throughout the school day.

Middle and high school teacher reductions: 20 positions
Based on student forecasting, we are preserving programs and maintaining student course options, including performing and fine arts, business and marketing, culinary arts and agriculture, engineering, and technology, but reducing the number of class sections offered. This will increase our average core class sizes from the current target ratio of 1:29 to 1:33.

Revenue Opportunities
While reductions in our costs are necessary, we are also pursuing limited opportunities to increase or preserve revenue:
 

  • Raise the Special Education Cap. We are advocating for legislation to raise the special education funding cap from 11% to 15% to align with the national average. Additional funding—not a redistribution of current dollars—would provide critical support for our most vulnerable students and benefit all schools.
  • Local Option Levy. Passed by LOSD voters for nearly 30 years, our local option levy provides 15% of our annual operating budget—enough to fund the full-time equivalent of over 105 educators. These vital funds are already fully incorporated into our budget.
  • Capital Bond. LOSD voters passing our capital bond measure in November 2025 helps offset general fund costs by covering our school's significant facility needs. While bond dollars cannot be used for daily operations like salaries or utilities, they can fund critical repairs, safety upgrades, and technology infrastructure. We must pass this bond to keep our schools safe and functional.
  • Facility Rental Fees. We have updated our rental structure to cover the cost of evening and weekend use. LOSD rates are now more closely aligned with other Portland metro area districts, allowing access to our facilities without burdening our general fund.
  • Lake Oswego Schools Foundation. Donations to the Foundation currently support about 1% of our annual operating budget and are used exclusively to fund educator positions in every school. The more our community contributes to the Foundation, the more positions we can fund to support students across our district. We are forever grateful for our community’s unwavering support.
  • Growing Our Financial Reserves. We are committed to rebuilding our financial reserves to ensure a safety net for our schools. This includes limiting resource allocations, delaying nonessential expenditures, and continually identifying efficiencies in our spending.

Moving Forward
We understand these decisions are challenging, and we want to assure you that we've approached them with the utmost responsibility and compassion. These steps are crucial for maintaining the stability of our schools, continuing to provide quality educational opportunities, and securing our financial future. We are deeply committed to supporting our staff and students through this transition.

Thank you for supporting our students, schools, and the people serving them.

Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer Schiele
Superintendent, Lake Oswego School District
​
P.S. Elementary and middle school conferences are happening this Thursday and Friday. We are sharing this information with you ahead of time to ensure your time with teachers stays focused entirely on your students' learning and experiences in our schools. Thank you.

 

Greetings from Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Schiele - Published in The Current (LOSD Newsletter) on February 28, 2025

To say we are in uncertain times is an understatement. Our community is facing a significant budget shortfall, which means we are forced to make incredibly difficult decisions, including reductions in staffing. Many of you are anxious and concerned, wondering how these changes will affect you, your colleagues, and our students. I wish I could provide clear answers right now, but the truth is we are still carefully working through this complex and deeply personal process.
 

These reductions are not just numbers on a spreadsheet—they impact real people: our colleagues, mentors, and friends. We are approaching every decision with great care, following state laws and bargained agreements that prioritize seniority and qualifications. This may mean that some employees transition to different schools or roles. Please know that behind every decision, we are doing our best to honor our staff's hard work and dedication.


In our elementary schools, we may need to blend grade levels to maintain balanced class sizes, while at the secondary level, students may see fewer sections of particular subjects or electives. I encourage everyone to be thoughtful during course forecasting, as schedule flexibility will be more limited next year.


I have heard from many of you expressing support for our teachers and staff, and I am deeply grateful. Your advocacy makes a difference—please continue reaching out to state legislators as they finalize education budgets. Next week, I will meet with Senator Wagner to share our concerns, and I know that your voices strengthen our message.
Above all, I ask for your kindness and patience. We are committed to meeting with each impacted individual personally and with compassion. This takes time, and I know waiting is hard. But please, if you can, offer grace to those around you—our educators, staff, students, and families. 

Thank you for standing together during this challenging time. Your support means everything.

Lake Oswego School Board Meeting - February 24, 2025

Budget Questions Answered - Published in The Current (LOSD Newsletter) on February 14

As we navigate financial challenges and discuss potential budget cuts, we encourage you to review our Budget Challenges FAQ for answers to common questions.

New Budget Questions Answered - Published in The Current (LOSD Newsletter) on January 24

As we navigate financial challenges and discuss potential budget cuts, we encourage you to review our Budget Challenges FAQ for answers to common questions. We continue to update it, including answers to questions about the bond and property taxes.

Where are my taxes going to schools? Residents within the LOSD attendance area have three line items on their property tax statements that fund schools:

  1. “SCH LK OSWEGO” – This is the statewide education tax based on voter-approved Measure 5 and Measure 50. The funds collected go to the State Legislature for distribution through the State School Fund, which allocates money using a need-weighted formula on a per-pupil basis. Notably, Lake Oswego residents contribute more to the State School Fund than LOSD receives per pupil for its students.
  2. “SCH LK OSWEGO LOC OPT” – This represents the local option levy, which voters approve approximately every five years to provide additional funding directly to LOSD schools.
  3. “SCH LK OSWEGO BOND” – These are taxes from our local bond measures passed by voters in 2000, 2017, and 2021 to support capital projects like building improvements and school infrastructure in LOSD schools.


Additionally, you may see the line item “CITY LK OSWEGO INSIDE SCH” on your property tax statement for residents who reside inside the school district attendance area. This is a city tax that funds city services—not schools. None of the money from this tax goes to LOSD or its schools.
Can we use the funds spent on building new schools to fund more teachers? Bond funds approved by LOSD voters can only be used for capital improvement and significant infrastructure projects. Funds from bond measures are highly regulated and cannot fund salaries, utilities, or other operating expenses. In other words, bonds can only be used for buildings. Bond funds relieve some pressure on our operating budget by covering high-cost items like technology infrastructure and major building repairs.
 

Greetings from Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Schiele - Published in The Current (LOSD Newsletter) on January 17th

Since my message on December 14 regarding our financial challenges, I’ve been working closely with our team to develop a thoughtful and responsible approach to address our budget realities. Today, I want to share more specifics about where we stand and how we plan to proceed.

Financial Context Based on the governor’s proposed budget, LOSD is facing a $12 million budget shortfall for the 2025-26 school year. This shortfall is driven by a sharp increase in Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) costs and insufficient state school funding, which is failing to keep pace with rising expenses. Escalating costs and dwindling reserves exceed expected revenues, requiring significant action.
 

Our Approach As we navigate this process, we are guided by the following principles:

  • Prioritizing students and their educational experience: We aim to begin with cuts furthest from the classroom.
  • Focusing on efficiencies: We are prioritizing cost reductions through efficiencies rather than eliminating programs, schools, and services.
  • Collaborating with the community: We are working to increase revenue through community donations and legislative advocacy for fully funding public education.

Proposed Reductions Since 85% of our operating budget is dedicated to employee compensation, staffing reductions will be necessary for the 2025-26 school year. We will strive to minimize the impact by prioritizing natural attrition through retirements and voluntary departures wherever possible.

  • District administrative, licensed and classified school/student support personnel, and district and site operational reductions (non-classroom licensed teacher positions): $6.625 million
  • Classroom Reductions (approximately 27 teachers): $3.375 million

Moving Forward These financial realities are difficult, and I deeply understand the concerns they bring. LOSD is committed to approaching these challenges with care, collaboration, and transparency. Thank you for your dedication and partnership.

 

LOSD Budget Questions Answered - Published in The Current (LOSD Newsletter) on December 20, January 10 and January 17

As we navigate financial challenges and discuss potential budget cuts, we encourage you to review our Budget Challenges FAQ for answers to common questions. We will continue updating this document as more information is available.
If you have additional concerns or need further clarification, please use the Google Form at the end of the FAQ to submit your questions. Your input is essential in helping us address concerns and ensure transparency within our learning community. Thank you for your engagement and support.

 

Message From The Superintendent: Budget Projections - Published in ParentSquare on December 17th

Dear LOSD Community,

I am sharing important information about our district's financial challenges. Earlier today, I communicated these updates to our employees, and it’s equally important that our families are informed. Over the past decade, we have weathered economic shifts with minimal disruption. However, recent developments have created significant financial pressures we can no longer manage with our monetary reserves. My goal is to provide a clear understanding of the situation and work together thoughtfully and collaboratively as we plan for the future.

Financial Situation

Like many school districts across Oregon, we face significant budget constraints over the next two years due to a sharp rise in Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) costs. LOSD is projecting a $5 million increase in mandatory PERS rates, driven by lower-than-expected returns in the state’s PERS investment accounts and rising payroll and staffing expenses. While we anticipated an increase, this figure nearly doubled our most conservative projections. 

We have closely monitored the governor’s proposed 2025-2027 biennium budget to understand our financial outlook. Unfortunately, while the proposed state school funding is an increased allocation, it falls approximately $12 million short of what LOSD needs to maintain our current services. That $12 million shortfall, 10% of our annual operating budget, includes the $5 million increase in mandatory PERS rates.

Over the past several years, we used funds from our financial reserves to enhance support for our students and community as we recover from the pandemic’s impacts. This investment was meaningful and necessary, but it has depleted our reserves. 

To address the $12 million budget shortfall projected for the 2025-2026 school year, we must immediately reduce non-essential spending and implement thoughtful plans for the next budget cycle. 

Budget Reductions

Tightening our financial belts across every district department and school means carefully evaluating operational expenses, limiting supply purchases, and significantly reducing discretionary spending. These difficult yet necessary measures help protect the long-term stability of our educational programs and support systems. 

However, with most of our operating budget allocated to staffing, more is needed to address the full extent of our shortfall. We must undertake a reduction in force (RIF) to achieve the required budget reductions. These decisions are complex and guided by state laws and our bargained agreements, but knowing that does not make the process any less painful or the impact on our staff and community any less significant.

Community Support

Our community has always been a cornerstone of strength in challenging times, and your support makes a difference. 

  • Lake Oswego Schools Foundation: Nearly 40 years ago, families came together to ensure our schools continued to thrive during funding cuts. Today, the Foundation continues to fund educator positions in every school. I encourage you to learn more about how your Foundation contributions help enhance the educational experience for all students.
  • Parent Clubs: Our incredible PTOs, PTSOs, PTAs, Boosters, and other parent organizations are vital partners. From volunteering time and talent to providing resources, your involvement truly matters. Thank you for heeding the call from your principals, teachers, advisors, and coaches when asking for help.
  • Advocacy for School Funding: The Oregon legislative session begins on January 21. Join me, our school board, and school leaders in advocating for public school funding. Please share your voice with our state representatives about investing in education.

As we move forward, I want to acknowledge that this news brings uncertainty and concern for our staff, families, and students. Please know that we are approaching these challenges with great care and a commitment to protecting the quality of education for all learners.

We will continue to provide regular updates. Thank you for your understanding, support, and unwavering dedication to our schools and students.

Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer Schiele
Superintendent, LOSD

 

Lake Oswego School Board Meeting - December 16, 2024

 

Greetings from Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Schiele - Published in The Current (LOSD Newsletter) on December 13, 2024

At Monday’s School Board meeting, we will discuss the financial challenges facing LOSD and the steps we need to take together to address them. 


We have successfully managed economic impacts for the past decade without significant disruptions. However, recent developments have created financial pressures that our reserves can no longer absorb.


Like many school districts across Oregon, our district is experiencing significant budget constraints due to rising Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) costs. These costs stem from lower-than-expected returns in the state’s PERS investment accounts and increasing payroll and staffing expenses. We have closely monitored the governor’s proposed budget to better understand our financial outlook. Unfortunately, our rising costs far exceed the governor’s proposed increase in state school funding.
Over the past four years, we intentionally decided to use our financial reserves to enhance programming and provide critical support for our students and community as they recovered from the pandemic’s impacts. This investment was meaningful and necessary, but it has depleted our reserves.


Our top priority remains preserving our students’ academic experiences and well-being. The past decade of increased revenue and reserve funding has allowed us to improve staff-to-student ratios, add student mental health support, and expand services. However, we must take a more critical approach to resource allocation, which will require some difficult but necessary decisions.
We are committed to navigating these financial challenges with transparency, collaboration, and care. Your engagement and input are vital as we move forward. Please stay informed by following the financial discussion at our bimonthly School Board meetings, where we will continue to share updates and explore solutions. Together, we can ensure that every decision reflects our shared commitment to providing the best possible learning experience.

Colored pencils

Our Impact This Year

  • People Helped

    6,815

  • Volunteer Hours

    750

  • Dollars Raised

    $1,500,000

  • Charity Navigator: 4 out of 4
  • Proud Chamber Member
  • more
    more
  • great schools
    great schools
  • Community Partner_Papa Murphys
  • Niche Overview
  • Community Partner_New Seasons
  • Niche_Best District
  • Niche_Best Middle Schools
  • Val_Biella
  • Niche_Best Elementary
  • The Manilow Fund
  • Niche_Teachers
  • Highest Transparency Rating
© 2025 Lake Oswego Schools Foundation
Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

  1. What Information Do We Collect? When you visit our website you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individual basis and website use information collected on an aggregate basis as you and others browse our website.
  2. Personal Information You Choose to Provide We may request that you voluntarily supply us with personal information, including your email address, postal address, home or work telephone number and other personal information for such purposes as correspondence, placing an order, requesting an estimate, or participating in online surveys. If you choose to correspond with us through email, we may retain the content of your email messages together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in the maintenance of information received by mail and telephone.
  3. Website Use Information Similar to other websites, our site may utilize a standard technology called "cookies" (see explanation below, "What Are Cookies?") and web server logs to collect information about how our website is used. Information gathered through cookies and server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our website, and the sites visited just before and just after ours. This information is collected on an aggregate basis. None of this information is associated with you as an individual.
  4. How Do We Use the Information That You Provide to Us? Broadly speaking, we use personal information for purposes of administering our business activities, providing service and support and making available other products and services to our customers and prospective customers. Occasionally, we may also use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. The lists used to send you product and service offers are developed and managed under our traditional standards designed to safeguard the security and privacy of all personal information provided by our users. You may at any time to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers.
  5. What Are Cookies? Cookies are a feature of web browser software that allows web servers to recognize the computer used to access a website. Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored by a user's web browser on the user's hard drive. Cookies can remember what information a user accesses on one web page to simplify subsequent interactions with that website by the same user or to use the information to streamline the user's transactions on related web pages. This makes it easier for a user to move from web page to web page and to complete commercial transactions over the Internet. Cookies should make your online experience easier and more personalized.
  6. How Do We Use Information Collected From Cookies? We use website browser software tools such as cookies and web server logs to gather information about our website users' browsing activities, in order to constantly improve our website and better serve our users. This information assists us to design and arrange our web pages in the most user-friendly manner and to continually improve our website to better meet the needs of our users and prospective users. Cookies help us collect important business and technical statistics. The information in the cookies lets us trace the paths followed by users to our website as they move from one page to another. Web server logs allow us to count how many people visit our website and evaluate our website's visitor capacity. We do not use these technologies to capture your individual email address or any personally identifying information about you.
  7. Notice of New Services and Changes Occasionally, we may use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services and special offers we think you will find valuable. As a user of our website, you will be given the opportunity to notify us of your desire not to receive these offers by clicking on a response box when you receive such an offer or by sending us an email request.
  8. How Do We Secure Information Transmissions? When you send confidential personal information to us on our website, a secure server software which we have licensed encrypts all information you input before it is sent to us. The information is scrambled en route and decoded once it reaches our website. Other email that you may send to us may not be secure unless we advise you that security measures will be in place prior to your transmitting the information. For that reason, we ask that you do not send confidential information such as Social Security, credit card, or account numbers to us through an unsecured email.
  9. How Do We Protect Your Information? Information Security -- We utilize encryption/security software to safeguard the confidentiality of personal information we collect from unauthorized access or disclosure and accidental loss, alteration or destruction. Evaluation of Information Protection Practices -- Periodically, our operations and business practices are reviewed for compliance with organization policies and procedures governing the security, confidentiality and quality of our information. Employee Access, Training and Expectations -- Our organization values, ethical standards, policies and practices are committed to the protection of user information. In general, our business practices limit employee access to confidential information, and limit the use and disclosure of such information to authorized persons, processes and transactions.
  10. How Can You Access and Correct Your Information? You may request access to all your personally identifiable information that we collect online and maintain in our database by emailing us using the contact form provided to you within the site structure of our website.
  11. Do We Disclose Information to Outside Parties? We may provide aggregate information about our customers, sales, website traffic patterns and related website information to our affiliates or reputable third parties, but this information will not include personally identifying data, except as otherwise provided in this privacy policy.
  12. What About Legally Compelled Disclosure of Information? We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights.
  13. Permission to Use of Materials The right to download and store or output the materials in our website is granted for the user's personal use only, and materials may not be reproduced in any edited form. Any other reproduction, transmission, performance, display or editing of these materials by any means mechanical or electronic without our express written permission is strictly prohibited. Users wishing to obtain permission to reprint or reproduce any materials appearing on this site may contact us directly.
Terms & Conditions

Terms & Conditions

Donation Refund Policy

We are grateful for your donation and support of our organization. If you have made an error in making your donation or change your mind about contributing to our organization please contact us. Refunds are returned using the original method of payment. If you made your donation by credit card, your refund will be credited to that same credit card.

Automated Recurring Donation Cancellation

Ongoing support is important to enabling projects to continue their work, so we encourage donors to continue to contribute to projects over time. But if you must cancel your recurring donation, please notify us.

Powered by Firespring