Another Lane County school district, another major budget misstep.
Two months after Eugene School District 4J leaders said they completed steep cuts to next school year’s budget, and one month after announcing their deficit was much larger than anticipated, we learned last week the true size of the hole: $44.1 million.
That figure represents a $16.4 million miscalculation by 4J’s finance team. It means the district’s three-phased reduction plan for next year — 269 staff cuts, the co-location of two schools in one building and fewer elective classes for middle school students — only totaled two-thirds of the savings needed to balance the budget, a must under state law…