Tigard and Tualatin School District board members voted to reduce their force amid declining enrollment and a potential $7 million funding shortfall.
At their meeting on April 6, the Tigard and Tualatin School District (TTSD) Board approved reducing their workforce by approximately 21 positions and cutting back on supplies and services provided to students.
“None of us want to do this, but we all know we have to do this,” Board Chair Jill Zurschmeide said at the meeting. “This is what the grownups in the room have to do.”
At the board meeting, members reported that $3.2 of a $5.5 million budget deficit was slated to be recouped by slashing staff positions and $912,000 in school services. Board members calculated that, after cuts, the district would still be short $1 million and said the shortfall would be addressed through additional program review and “cost containment.”
School District Superintendent Dr. Iton Udosenata cited budget shortfalls and declining student enrollment, leaving the board with no choice but to cut teacher positions. He added that most of the 21 positions would be eliminated on their own, through either retirement or “staff members leaving.”
“Of the positions we are planning to RIF (reduction in force), most will be absorbed through attrition,” said Udosenata at the meeting. “We anticipate there will be very few actual layoff notices that go to staff; it doesn’t mean there won’t be transfers, though.”
While the board did not explicitly state which positions were facing elimination, it indicated that out of the district’s licensed positions, 19 instructional and seven non-instructional jobs would be cut. Additionally, 6.75 reductions would be made among classified staff, as well as one manager.
“It’s an adjustment in our ratios,” Udosenata said. “I think that nets about 15 positions at the elementary school and six positions at the secondary level.”
“As part of the RIF we are eliminating 34 positions and adding about 13 positions, for a net reduction of 21 positions,” TTSD Communications Director Alexander Pulaski said in an email to Tualatin Life. “As individuals move between eliminated and newly created positions, and as resignations and retirements are factored in, we expect very few individuals will actually lose employment.”
The $912,000 in non-staffing cuts were briefly reviewed at the meeting and were said to include areas such as partnership contracts, transportation and “supplies and services.”
Pulaski said the district’s “shortfall was estimated to be $5.5 million, but recent revisions in state and local funding sources indicate it could be as much as $7.2 million.” He also mentioned that this year’s RIF was “significantly smaller than last year, when 75 FTE were affected.”
“We did our best to start reducing our administrative staffing last year and the year before,” Udosenata said about this year’s reduction, which primarily included teachers, at the meeting. “Administrators represent a relatively small number of staff, and so last year we did reduce at the executive level and the cabinet level.”
The board discussed the district’s current budget shortfalls, both caused by lapses in federal funding and a growing gap between state funding and school expenses, with Udosenata saying that increased funding couldn’t keep up with rising expenses.
According to the TTSD adopted budget for 2025-2026, the district’s proposed revenue for this school year was around $178 million, while expenses were set at a little over $180 million, with salaries being responsible for about $88 million.
At a TTSD board meeting in May 2025, Chief Financial Officer Jessica Seay said that, because of rising costs across all operations, the board could no longer rely on reserves to sustain itself unless reductions were made.
“We’re really at a point where we can’t continue to use reserves to sustain operations,” Seany said. “The 25-26 budget will use $1.3 million dollars out of reserve and end the year at a 7% ending fund balance, but fortunately, in 26-27, we’ll stop deficit spending.”
The Tigard-Tualatin School Board reconvened on April 20 for continued budget talks, where Udosenata said that next school year looked to have a “less than fruitful biennium.”
“We’re gonna continue to look at our staffing models and try to get really efficient,” Udosenata said. “Last board meeting we provided a comprehension plan for a reduction in force, and I just wanted to report that our RIF process is being conducted as planned…”
Udosenata, at the April 20 meeting, said that complaints about the small number of administrative reductions were “fair” and that the board still planned to reexamine the number of administrative staff.
During the April 6 meeting, different members of TTSD staff spoke during public comment, with TTSD Data and Budget Analyst Scott Burich telling the board that members of the Oregon School Employees Association were “struggling.”
Another member of TTSD classified staff, Hazelbrooke Middle School Learning Specialist Riley Shotts, told the board that they should increase pay to acknowledge the “dignity” of staff members’ work.
“I would encourage the school board to acknowledge that with pay that respects us and honors the dignity of our work,” Shotts said. “If you can see us and how much we invest in these communities, I hope you, in turn, can invest back into the staff that invests so much of our love and so much of our passion into these communities.”
The board greenlit reductions at their meeting and tentatively scheduled notices of leave to be sent to staff on April 30 and May 1. They also met with staff unions on April 10 to review the reductions, and at their April 20 meeting, Udosenata said that they were still awaiting a counterproposal from OSEA.
