Home News Local News Union-Baker, Umatilla-Morrow ESDs become one

Union-Baker, Umatilla-Morrow ESDs become one

Written by DICK MASON The (La Grande) Observer June 28, 2010 05:27 am

It’s official. The Union-Baker and Umatilla-Morrow education service districts will become one.

The State Board of Education gave plans for a voluntary merger between the two ESDs a thumbs up Thursday morning in Salem. The board’s approval means the Union-Baker and Umatilla-Morrow ESDs will consolidate into the InterMountain ESD on May 31, 2011.

Mike Sowder, superintendent of the Union-Baker ESD, was delighted with the state board’s vote.

“It is a relief knowing that the (Union-Baker) ESD is going to be OK,’’ Sowder said.

Sowder began pushing for a voluntary merger almost a year ago in large part because his agency is financially strapped and hard-pressed to provide services. Sowder often said the Union-Baker ESD, hard hit by budget cuts in recent years, would become financially insolvent in about two years unless there was a merger.

A major reason is a $260,000 per year bonded indebtedness obligation to the Public Employees Retirement System, the state’s retirement system for school employees as well as many county and city workers. The Union-Baker ESD would soon not have been able to afford these payments, which would have increased at least 10 percent a year.

Another financial debt weighing down the Union-Baker ESD is the $1.6 million it owes the state because of irregularities found by the state in the reporting of its enrollment at its weighing down the Union-Baker ESD is the $1.6 million it owes the state because of irregularities found by the state in the reporting of its enrollment at its alter native education schools from the late 1990s through about 2003. This debt will be forgiven by the state now that the merger has the green light.

School districts in Union and Baker counties will likely benefit from being served by the larger consolidated InterMountain ESD since it will be able to offer more services for students.

“The best programs will be available for kids. That has been our concern all along,’’ said Sowder, who spoke briefly at Thursday’s State Board of Education meeting.

Mark Mulvihill, superintendent of the Umatilla-Morrow ESD, like Sowder, is excited abut the merger.

“This is truly an historic event for our region. It was a long, but fair and thorough process, and I believe it’s an example of the kind of transformational change we need in state government,’’ Mulvihill said in a press release.

The Union-Baker and Umatilla-Morrow ESD boards approved the proposed merger in April. The Oregon Department of Education conducted public hearings on the merger June 8 in La Grande and Pendleton. Input from these hearings was shared with the State Board of Education.

The Union-Baker and Umatilla-Morrow ESD boards will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the merger process and the transition year. The meeting will be in the board room of the Union-Baker ESD’s Island City office building.

Part of the transition process will involve organizing elections for the InterMountain ESD’s seven-member board. Board elections will be conducted in November. Those elected will not take office until mid 2011. However, the board members elected will guide the consolidation process in the months before they are sworn in.

The InterMountain ESD Board will have three Umatilla County positions, one each in Union, Baker and Morrow counties and a single at-large berth.

The InterMountain ESD will have about 24,000 students, said Casey White, communications coordinator for the Umatilla-Morrow ESD. About 19,000 of the students will be from Umatilla and Morrow counties and 5,000 will be from Union and Baker counties.