West Linn-Wilsonville School District Administrative Building (Submitted by Andrew Kilstrom/West Linn-Wilsonville School District).

This story has been updated from its original version. 

The 2025-26 school year will be two days shorter, following a vote by the West Linn-Wilsonville School Board on Monday, June 2. 

The special board meeting followed a vote taken by the West Linn-Wilsonville Education Association, the school district teachers union, on May 19 to approve the two furlough days. The district said that this will not impact the necessary number of instructional hours required by the Oregon Department of Education. 

WWEA requested that the board, following approval, use “the savings from that donated income of their furlough days towards licensed staff and helping to reduce class size,” according to Superintendent Kathy Ludwig.  

“We don’t have an exact figure yet, but we’re looking at a little over $900,000 (in savings),” said Ludwig. 

The furlough days are a response to the $15 million budget cuts the district has made in next year’s budget, which include cutting 59 teachers and 51 non-licensed employees. 

Only the licensed employees voted to approve the furlough days, totaling 6.5 full-time employee positions over the two days.

“The decision around two furlough days was not an easy one with the overall economic situation in our country and community. We did it to try to make sure that we have the best possible experience for students, even if it means two less days, and to bring back as many hard working coworkers as we could. Our hope is that this will help maintain our strong academic growth coming out of COVID and will help retain as many students as possible to reverse enrollment trends,” said WWEA President and West Linn High School teacher Matt Bell in an email read by Superintendent Ludwig during the meeting. 

By saving resources for teaching positions, class sizes should decrease as additional teachers means students may be spread out among more classrooms. 

The addition of furlough days, alongside staffing reductions and other cuts, was first suggested as a possibility in the district’s April 10 budget announcement. That announcement estimated that each furlough day could fund approximately 5.25 full time employees, depending upon salaries and estimated payroll costs. 

The need for furlough days, in addition to the previously announced budget reduction measures, stems from rising costs and decreased revenues from the state of Oregon. 

According to an email from the Oregon Department of Education’s office of finance and information technology, the district’s Average Daily Membership (ADM) forecast, which is part of the revenue formula, decreased by another 74 students, the district’s actual student population remains close to 8,800. These enrollment estimates are vital to budget planning because the number of enrolled students is directly related to state revenues. 

“The fact that our teachers care so much for one another, and they value their colleagues to the level that they’re willing to take a pay cut, says a lot about the type of people that work within this school district, and to volunteer that on your own is a big deal,” said board member Louis Taylor.