This is the second of a two-part series devoted to local school budgets.

It's a waiting game and South Coast school districts are the players.

School boards are keeping close watch on both houses of the Legislature as the session limps into June. They are hoping to win more money as lawmakers wrangle over the Senate's proposed $5.325-billion education package and the House's $5.2-billion package.

Few educators expect to be winners in the deals cut over their largest revenue stream.

All are facing a double-digit increase in costs to public retirement accounts and all expect rising fuel and insurance costs. And, at least around the South Coast, dwindling enrollments have proven costly to districts. When one student leaves, so does $4,700 in state funding.

Over the last few months, school district budget committees have approved their districts' 2005-06 budgets. It's up to the school boards now to take one last peek at the proposed budgets before the June 30 state filing deadline. And there will be one last chance for the public to provide input into the budgets.

For those looking for brief synopses, here is a snapshot of what the Myrtle Point, Coos Bay, Bandon and Reedsport districts could look like next year.

Myrtle Point

At the recommendation of the Myrtle Point School Board, the budget committee has designed the district's $6.4-million 2005-06 budget around a controversial four-day school week, a newly proposed alternative education program that's run aground in the application process, and a stalemate in employee contract talks.

Last November, the School Board gave Superintendent Robert Smith approval to research a plan to revamp the school's educational programming by shortening the school week to four days - without hiring additional teachers - yet adding almost 50 new classes such as forestry, biblical literature, acoustic guitar and ecology. The move was intended, in part, to court homeschoolers. Smith said the district needed to attract about 40 students to justify the proposal for the four-day week.

On Thursday, Smith was not able to provide a concrete number as to how many new students planned to enroll next year. However, one surprise, as compared to year's past, was that instead of 50 students leaving the district between September and May, the opposite appears to have been true.

"We actually have gained a couple (students)," Smith said. "We anticipated being down 50 kids compared to where we are at."

While Smith hopes the four-day week will draw students to the area, Myrtle Point Education Association President Elinor Levin fears there could be a negative byproduct. She said many students have approached her about transferring to another district.

"They're just worried that the teachers are leaving and what's going to be left here. It's ironic. In an effort to get more students, there could be some that are leaving," she said.

The district will lose staff. Athletic director Bill Yester will become the vice principal at North Bend High School, while Myrtle Point High School principal Marty Gary has accepted a position in the Sutherlin School District.

Come Monday's board meeting, Smith plans for parents and board members to discuss the four-day-week topic.

"We put that on there to make sure there is no misunderstanding," he said. "The board can always change its course, but it was by a board action in November that set the direction for the implementation of this next year."

Levin said she believes there could be a healthy discussion at the meeting.

"I don't know what it will be, but people are beginning to realize that if they don't want (the four-day week) they need to do something now," Levin said.

To balance the budget - based on the House's $5.2-billion proposal - the budget committee was given the task of downsizing by $375,000. The Public Employee Retirement System hike alone cut a $150,000 hole in the budget.

The cost-saving cuts and adjustments the Budget Committee passed included:

n transitioning from a five-day week to a four-day week, a move that will save $85,000, since classified staff will not be paid for 17 days of work;

n cutting two custodial positions to save about $80,000;

n saving $54,000 by moving portions of some positions under Title I special revenue funding, instead of the general fund; and

n recouping $75,000 in projected unemployment costs after recalculating the budget and realizing fewer positions would be cut.

In a surprise development, the district learned it would receive an additional $58,000 from the state in transportation reimbursement funding. That guaranteed keeping a $6,000 stipend for the special education director, $27,000 for the district's assistant coaches and two full-time librarians whose positions would have been halved.

One fact that drew the ire of some people is the budget committee's reluctance to part with money in contingency and reserve funds. Smith said the district will have a combined total of $1.5 million - $900,000 to carry over the district during light cash flow periods and $600,000 in the contingency fund - just shy, he said, of what a district Myrtle Point's size is recommended to have.

Coos Bay

For the second year in a row, the Coos Bay School District plans to cut about 10 days from next school year. The move will save about $800,000 - the lion's share of a $1.45-million shortfall in the district's $25.2-million budget.

The district is anticipating losing about 80 students next year (the equivalent of about $375,000) and paying out $700,000 more compared to last year, due to PERS. Health insurance and fuel cost spikes also have increased costs by a combined total of about $350,000.

To balance the budget, the committee also has recommended the board:

n delay the purchase of new social studies instructional materials, saving the district $181,000;

n transfer $200,000 from the capital funds project to the general operating fund;

n use an accrual process to generate $450,000;

n eliminate one home economics position and reallocate two full-time teachers from schools with dwindling enrollment to other schools;

n reduce maintenance and repairs budget by 50 percent; and

n reduce the district's contingency fund to $350,000, or 1.5 percent of the district's budget. School districts prefer to maintain a 5- to 10-percent share.

Should any additional money become available, the committee recommends the school board first and foremost buy back days from the shortened school year. The next set of priorities would be to purchase social studies instructional materials.

Bandon

Bandon's budget, unlike many other South Coast school districts, will remain status quo for the 2005-06 school year, according to Superintendent Kenny Kent.

Even so, the district still will face additional expenditures of almost $400,000 because of the rising costs of salaries, benefits and the district's contribution into PERS.

"We must consider the instability of educational funding over the last two biennium and even the last 15 years as the impact of ballot measures 5, 47 and 50 shifted school funding responsibility from local property taxes to state income taxes," Kent wrote in his budget message. "That move took school control from the local taxpayer and placed it into the hands of the state Legislature. It is questionable whether the Legislature has managed this task well."

In response, Bandon has maintained a cash carryover averaging 28 percent of its total budget. Oregon Superintendent of Schools Susan Castillo has recommended an average 20-percent cash carryover, but Kent maintains the carryover has helped the district avoid cutting teaching positions, school days and additional programs. That cushion is quickly shrinking, he added, and could be gone within the next few years because of rising costs and declining enrollment.

Kent recommended a total general fund budget of $6.87 million, which projects the use of $938,809 of the district's carryover from 2004-05 and moving $307,852 from capital projects.

The budget does include a few minor changes, including:

n changing the Ocean Crest Elementary School principal position from .6 full-time equivalent to full time, with PERS. Long-time principal Jim Cowan is retiring.

n adding a half-time kindergarten teacher so the district can continue its full-day kindergarten program for special-needs students;

n increases in contractual agreements for salaries, insurance and PERS. The district last week settled on a new contract for the 44-member teaching staff, giving them salary increases of 1.5 percent, 2 percent and 2 percent over three years.

n adding a half-time custodian for Ocean Crest.

The Budget Committee met on April 25 and unanimously approved the budget. A budget adoption hearing date is to be scheduled at Tuesday's regular board meeting.

Reedsport

Among big cuts in other school districts, Reedsport - which continually faces hardship due to dropping state funding and rapidly declining student enrollment - had an easier time with budgeting this year.

Cuts still needed to be made, according to Superintendent Duane Yecha, but they weren't nearly as many or as drastic as last year. Yecha said increased revenue from the state has made life a little easier for the district's budget committee.

"It's not enough to cover our needs but it is increased over last year," Yecha said. "... It's a smaller percentage cut this year than last."

The largest cuts will be to faculty and school days.

Two full-time teaching positions - one for first grade and one for sixth grade - at Highland Elementary School have been eliminated, leaving two teachers for each grade level. A full-time teaching position costs the district an average of $56,000 per year, Yecha said.

The district likely will not replace the elementary school's half-time physical education instructor. That position, which includes a full benefits package, costs the district about $39,000 per year.

Perhaps the biggest cut will be to the number of school days. It still hasn't been determined, though, just how many days will be on the chopping block. In the approved budget, Yecha said, the district was considering cutting eight days in the 2005-06 school year. But a $100,000 adjustment in the school's state revenue for the 2003-04 school year has offered a hint of good news.

At its upcoming Wednesday night meeting, the Reedsport School Board will consider adding back school days.

- Editors Amy Moss-Strong of The Bandon Western World and Rick Osborn of The Umpqua Post contributed to this story.