District overview
How Eugene 4J is funded, governed, and why it just cut $16 million from its budget
Like most Oregon districts, 4J's money comes mainly from the State School Fund, a formula built around ADMw (Average Daily Membership Weighted) -- a count of enrolled students adjusted with extra weight for English learners, students with disabilities, students in poverty, and a few other categories. Because the formula is enrollment-driven, the district's steady enrollment decline since the pandemic has directly reduced its state funding. A voter-approved Local Option Levy (about $27.8 million a year, roughly 10% of the General Fund) supplements that formula money and is the only tool Oregon law gives the district to ask local voters for more day-to-day operating funds. For 2026-27, the district's own budget message describes a structural gap of about $16 million between General Fund revenue (~$258 million) and expenditures (~$274 million), driven by the combination of declining enrollment, the fall-2024 expiration of one-time federal pandemic relief that had been used to sustain staffing, and rising personnel costs.
The State School Fund formula pays districts based on ADMw, so fewer enrolled students means less state money, not just a smaller share of a fixed pot. The district's budget document says this decline began after the COVID-19 pandemic and is expected to continue.
Between 2020 and 2025 the district used one-time federal pandemic relief to increase staffing and support students recovering from pandemic-era learning and mental-health impacts. That relief expired in fall 2024, but the added staffing had become an ongoing cost the regular budget could not sustain.
Oregon law caps how much a district like 4J can ask local voters to add on top of the state formula. The current levy runs through June 2030 and funds about 205 teaching positions or 32 school days a year -- without it, the budget gap would be substantially larger.
The district's policy requires keeping at least 5% of General Fund operating expenses in reserve. The proposed 2026-27 budget leaves the district only about $877,000 above that minimum, after several years of drawing down reserves to cover services beyond what regular revenue supported.
The size of the cuts does not mean the district is being mismanaged: 4J's own forecasts flagged this exact structural gap as early as May 2023, and the district describes a deliberate three-phase reduction process (executive leadership first, then central programs, then schools) intended to protect direct classroom services as much as possible within a real revenue shortfall shared by many Oregon districts.
About $258 million in operating revenue against about $274 million in operating expenditures. Covered this year with one-time fund transfers; the district's own budget message says the underlying gap will continue past 2026-27.
Up to 150 licensed, 87 classified, 32 non-bargaining, and 3 executive full-time-equivalent positions, phased in since December 2025. FTE counts positions, not necessarily individual people.
Leaves the district about $877,000 above its own required minimum -- a thin cushion.
Voter-approved property tax (Measure 20-357, renewed May 2024, runs through June 2030) supplementing State School Fund formula revenue. About 10% of the General Fund.
2025-26, per NCES. Not independently verified against a document collected for this district; the district's own budget document describes enrollment as declining since the pandemic without stating this figure in extractable text.
Total remaining principal and interest on the 2011 and 2018 general obligation bonds. Repaid through a dedicated property tax, separate from the General Fund and the Local Option Levy.
A three-phase plan to close the district's structural budget gap: Phase 1 cut executive leadership and external contracts/services; Phase 2 reduced central and districtwide programs and staffing; Phase 3 reduced staffing at the school-building level. All three phases were presented to the community and school board between December 2025 and February 2026, and the board granted authority for the connected staff reductions as each phase was approved.
General Fund reductions, plus one-time transfers from the Facilities Maintenance Fund and beginning fund balance to bridge the remaining 2026-27 gap.
Board authorized up to 269 FTE reductions; the district's budget message describes approaching that limit judiciously rather than cutting the full amount authorized.
The district is completing capital construction and facility-improvement projects funded by its 2018 voter-approved general obligation bond. Prior phases of the bond funded three new school buildings (Edison Elementary, Camas Ridge Elementary, and North Eugene High School) and an expansion of Gilham Elementary.
General obligation bonds, repaid through a dedicated property tax separate from the General Fund and Local Option Levy. Total remaining principal and interest on all outstanding general obligation bonds is scheduled through 2042.
The district's most recent bond rating (Moody's, 2022) was Aa; overall debt capacity is about 18.45% of its allowable limit.
Eugene School District 4J
Board members serve staggered four-year terms. The four seats last elected in May 2023 (Positions 1, 4, 5, and 7) expire June 30, 2027, so those seats are next up for election in May 2027. Lane County Elections has not yet published a filing calendar or set the exact May date for this election.
Official source · verified Aug 24, 2026
Facts badged verified come from the district's own 2026-27 Proposed Budget document and its April 22, 2026 Budget Committee presentation, both collected directly from the district's own document CDN. BoardBook, the district's meeting-agenda platform, is not collected: its Terms and Conditions of Use explicitly prohibit automated or manual copying of site content, so board agendas and minutes are not part of this corpus. The district's own audio archive of board meetings (hosted by student radio station KRVM) was unreachable during this initial collection; it remains configured for future collection. Enrollment and peer-comparison figures are unverified context from NCES.
We read every agenda, packet, and set of minutes, and write up the decisions that affect families — each one linked to the document it came from.
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