Small Oregon school district gets $2 million emergency loan after budgeting errors

According to its superintendent, a small school district in east Multnomah County has obtained a loan that will enable it to continue operating its classrooms until the conclusion of the academic year.

The roughly 50-teacher, 1,000-student Corbett School District said in November that it was in severe financial trouble, primarily attributing a $3 million budget deficit to the Multnomah Education Service District, whose representatives had lent the district an accountant. According to the service district, overspending resulted from the accountant’s budgeting mistakes, and the accountable accountant has resigned.

The unanticipated deficit resulted in the Corbett district’s anticipated layoffs and an immediate need for funding to keep schools open. The terms of a loan under a state statute that permits government entities to lend money to other government agencies caused the negotiations between the school district and the service district, which offers services and activities to eight school districts in the Portland region, to stall. In a joint statement released on Thursday, the districts said they had agreed to a $2 million loan from MESD to the Corbett School District.

In a joint statement, the Corbett School District and the Multnomah Education Service District acknowledged that they share responsibility for the district’s financial difficulties. Along with maintaining the high caliber of instruction and services that families and children depend on, we also uphold a common objective of guaranteeing the financial stability of the Corbett School District.

A copy of the loan agreement states that the school system has until June 30, 2033, to repay the debt, which has an interest rate of 2% annually. Ten already scheduled employment losses at the Corbett School District will not be reversed by the loan.

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Fedor Zarkhin is an enterprise and breaking news reporter. Have you got a story? Contact him by email at [email protected] or by phone at 971-373-2905.

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