The Jefferson County School District heads into the 2026-27 school year $2 million leaner, the result of declining enrollment, rising costs, and a state funding formula that many Oregon districts say shortchanges communities with high proportions of students who need extra support.

Despite the scale of cuts — roughly 16 to 18 positions eliminated district-wide — Superintendent Jay Mathisen said no employees are being laid off. The district used attrition and internal reassignments to absorb the reductions.

"We're reducing between 16 and 18 positions, and they're across all of our different employee groups," Mathisen said. "We're doing a proportional cut across all of our departments. Pretty much everywhere takes a little bit of a cut."

What's Behind the Numbers

Jefferson County is not alone. School districts across Central Oregon — including Bend-La Pine (down $7 million) and Redmond (down $3.5 million) — are all tightening budgets, driven by two primary forces:

  • Falling enrollment: Fewer students mean less per-pupil funding flowing to districts under Oregon's school finance formula.
  • Poverty weighting changes: The state changed how it calculates additional funding for students with greater needs. Oregon currently double-funds special education students, but only up to 11% of a district's enrollment — meaning districts like Jefferson County, which often exceed that threshold, absorb significant costs above the cap.

"We have one of the lowest models for funding special education in the country," said Bend-La Pine superintendent Steven Cook, noting the challenge is shared statewide.

What's Being Protected

Redmond and Jefferson County both emphasized efforts to shield student-facing programs. "We're not cutting athletics, we're not cutting music, we're not cutting things that students like," said Redmond superintendent Charan Cline.

Jefferson County School District serves approximately 2,740 students across nine schools, with a student population that is 60% minority and 63.5% economically disadvantaged — demographics that make the district particularly sensitive to state funding fluctuations.

The district's budget for the coming school year was adopted this spring. Residents with questions about specific program impacts can contact district offices at 541-475-6192 or visit the Jefferson County School District website.