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50 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, April 18, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 21, 2004 Ruch Elementary School first-graders show their enthusiasm for lunch Wednesday as the district contemplates whether to close the school to save money. They are, from left, Claudia Burkhart, Jazlyn Edwards, Cambria Bell, Emme Morse and Jacob Harper. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Medford board studies whether to keep Ruch school open By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune Faced with tightening budgets and dropping enrollment, the Medford school district is looking at closing its smallest school, Ruch Elementary. The school board opened the question at a study session this week with an invited group of administrators, teachers and parents. "This is a process," board member Larry Nicholson said. "The community needs to know what we face." Since 1998, enrollment has dropped nearly 44 percent at Ruch Elementary, a little school that overlooks forested hillsides from Upper Applegate Road. It has 142 students in kindergarten though sixth grade, six teachers and shares a principal, Bob Goerke, with Jacksonville Elementary. The district’s finance department calculated that educating a student at Ruch costs about $6,400 (the district receives about $4,896 per student from the state). The school has budgeted expenses of about $909,675 this year. Advertisement Preliminary estimates show the district theoretically could have saved $389,000 this year if Ruch were closed. Officials promised they won’t close the school mid-year, even if they decide closing it would benefit the district. "This is the beginning of the process," stressed Medford board Chairman Mike Moran. "We do not have a predetermined outcome." The board plans to continue its discussion Nov. 16 in Ruch. Becky Maddox, a Ruch parent and volunteer, said the community would try to help keep the little school viable. She worried that closing the school would boost class sizes at other schools and harm the district overall. "It’s just a warm, friendly place," said Ruch head teacher Cinda Christie, who teaches sixth grade and helps with administrative duties. "Everyone knows one another. These kids have grown up together." Children would be bused to elementary schools elsewhere if Ruch were closed, officials said. Board member Joe Frodsham asked the finance department to refine the savings estimates by including information on maintenance costs for a closed school and adjusting Ruch’s share of Goerke’s salary to reflect that he spends more time at Jacksonville Elementary. The district will need to look for savings, said Dan Zaklan, director of secondary education and personnel. An expected drop in enrollment will decrease the district’s state funding by $250,000 in the 2005-06 school year, he said. The district also predicts health insurance costs will go up $1 million next year, other operating costs such as utilities and salary raises will rise $2.5 million and the district’s expenses related to the state’s pension system will go up $2.8 million. "That’s $6.5 million we need just to stay where we are," Zaklan said. Since 1998, elementary enrollment throughout the district has dipped about 3.6 percent to 12,759 students this fall. Officials expect the districtwide decline to persist as birthrates continue to drop and Medford’s real estate prices push young families into more affordable Rogue Valley communities such as Central Point, White City, Phoenix and Talent. Officials haven’t fully analyzed the drop in enrollment at Ruch, but records show some families are moving into town, perhaps driven by property prices, access to services, jobs and recreation opportunities, officials theorized. Homeschooling also has surged. Zaklan noted that the district isn’t where it would like to be. It has had to cut its budget in each of the past four years and has deferred needed spending on building maintenance, computers and curriculum updates. "We waited for state help, and it doesn’t look like it’s coming," Zaklan said. A September state revenue forecast estimated the state would be about $609 million short of funding services at their current levels in the 2005-07 biennium. That could translate to a drop of $2 million to $4 million for the district, said business director Galen Anderson. "We are just at the bottom of the barrel," Zaklan said. "The district’s financial back is up against the wall." Still, the district must weigh the savings it could get by closing a school against the disruption it would cause children and families in Ruch, Frodsham said. "There’s a suffering factor," he said. "How much do we have to save to make it worth the pain?" By the numbers The following shows the decline in enrollment at Ruch Elementary School since 1998: Year Enrollment Percentage decline 1998 253 students 1999 237 students 6.32 percent 2000 218 students 13.83 percent 2001 201 students 20.55 percent 2002 178 students 29.64 percent 2003 157 students 37.94 percent 2004 142 students 43.87 percent Others have closed Other districts in Southern Oregon have closed schools to save money. In June 2003, Ashland School District shuttered Briscoe Elementary and expects to close Lincoln Elementary at the end of this school year. Three Rivers School District in Josephine County closed small rural schools in Selma and Merlin in the late 1990s. In 2002, Rogue River School District considered closing Evans Valley Elementary, but opted not to after the community campaigned to keep the school open. Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail [email protected] . 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