SALEM, Ore. (KATU) — Salem-Keizer Public Schools is grappling with a $23 million budget shortfall, attributed to declining enrollment.
Superintendent Andrea Castañeda explained, “What it comes down to is mostly that people are having fewer babies than they once did and as those smaller number of babies hit kindergarten, it just starts squeezing our enrollment down and down and moves to the grades.”
The district currently enrolls 37,208 students for the 2025-2026 school year, about 4,900 fewer than in 2018, and expects a further decline of 5,000 students over the next decade…