Superintendent Castañeda Releases Proposed Budget for the 2025-26 School Year

Proposed 2025-26 Budget Presented

Salem-Keizer Public Schools Superintendent Andrea Castañeda presented a $1.15 billion proposed budget for the 2025-26 school year to the district’s budget committee during their first meeting of the year on Tuesday. The proposed budget was developed before lawmakers finalized the State School Fund for the next biennium.

Go to a PDF Version of the Presentation

The 2025-26 proposed budget builds on the revenue assumption from the governor’s recommended budget of a $11.36 billion State School Fund, which is an increase over the previous biennium, but does not keep pace with the true costs of running public schools.

“Public schools are expected to identify and address a staggering array of youth and family needs, such as medical care, solutions for food and housing insecurity, social work, laundry, crisis intervention, mental and behavioral health services and more,” Superintendent Castañeda said. “While we are deeply grateful for an increase in state revenue, the growth of our expenses still significantly outpaces the state revenue increase.”

Budget Strategy and Staffing

The proposed 2025-26 budget strategically aligns resources, invests in key areas, and fulfills the district’s commitment to avoid back-to-back years of staffing reductions. This is coming at a time when many school districts in Oregon are making reductions.

“Because of our hard budgeting work and reductions in 2024-25, Salem-Keizer was able to assure our community that we will not make more reductions in our 2025-26 budget,” said Superintendent Castañeda. "This budget affirms that commitment."

The district’s general fund revenue for 2025-26 is approximately $590 million based on the governor’s recommended budget. The district’s proposed general fund budget includes 4,531.64 FTE, representing nearly 96 percent of the general fund revenue from the state. The primary expense of the district’s general fund is for staff salaries and benefits.

Strategic Investments

The 2025-26 proposed budget is built to support the district’s two-year strategic plan to improve outcomes for students:

• Investment in high-quality curriculum and professional development
• Addition of licensed FTE for the dual language expansion
• Additional FTE to support behavioral health and special education services
• Continued investment in career technical education and music programs
• Continued investment in school safety
• Investment in operations to streamline business functions for employees

Uncertainty Regarding Revenue and Expenses

The proposed budget was built without finalized funding levels from the state and will need to be approved before Oregon’s budget is final. There is also uncertainty around federal funding levels and potential impacts to school districts across the state. Lastly, it should be noted that the budget was also built while the district is in active negotiations with the licensed teacher association. Therefore, personnel costs could exceed what has been calculated for the proposed budget.

“Despite these uncertainties, I remain proud to present this budget,” said Superintendent Castañeda. “With this budget and our district’s 2025-27 strategic plan, we are narrowing our focus and improving our conditions for positive growth. I see our excellence, recognize our gaps and dedicate myself wholly to being part of our shared future success.”

Timeline for the Budget Process

• May 6: Proposed Budget presented, no public comment received
• May 14: Deliberations, public comment*
• May 19: Public comment* and deliberations on the proposed budget until approved/recommended to the school board for adoption
• May 20–21 (Tentative): Public comment* may or may not be received; deliberations on the proposed budget until approved/recommended to the school board for adoption. Additional meetings may be necessary if the budget is not approved/recommended to the school board for adoption by May 21.
• June 10, 2025: SKPS Board of Directors to vote on budget adoption

Meeting dates/times, agendas and information about public comment and viewing opportunities will be posted on the Budget Committee web page.

*For meetings where public comment will be received, it will be accepted using the online public comment sign-up form; instructions to submit public comment, both virtually and in-person, will be provided on the agendas for those specific meetings.

The full 2025-26 Proposed Budget is available on the Budget web page.