Falling Enrollment Hurting Pendleton Schools

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Story Published: May 22, 2009 at 5:15 PM PST

By Kyle Trompeter

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PENDLETON - School budget cuts have been bad everywhere. In Pendleton, the cuts have been especially deep, and there is one big reason why: enrollment.

More kids keep enrolling at districts like Hermiston, but Pendleton's students have been fading away for years.

"Since 1999, we have gone down over 550 students. 1999 was our peak. We had an enrollment in our districts of about 3,720 students. Now we're about 3,150," said Pendleton Business Manager Robert Reese.

Why is this important? Because each student brings revenue to the district and losing students has cost them millions each year.

"If we still had the same numbers we had in 1999, we would be receiving about $3,500,000 more per year in state funding. So it's a huge impact on us," said Reese.

Problems were in place before the recession, but since then, the fallout has been like dominoes, and the demise of Fleetwood hasn't helped.

"So we haven't been attracting the jobs that brings the population that brings the students with them," said Reese.

It's simple math - fewer kids plus a smaller budget equals 19 lost jobs.

"It's a double whammy. Funding isn't keeping up with inflation, and we're losing enrollment numbers. Over the last 10 years we have cut out about $15,000,000 from our budget counting this year and a few other related adjustments. So it's really about a $17,000,000 adjustment to the district," said Reese.

For an average sized district like Pendleton, the cost is crippling.

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