In the wake of increasingly worsening economic news, the Corvallis School Board on Monday evening approved a resolution requesting that the Oregon Legislature transfer $150 million from the Education Stability Fund to the State School Fund for the 2008-09 school year.

District business manager Kathy Rodeman told the board that the district is facing mid-year cuts of $1.8 million. If the state does not allocate the additional funds, the district could be forced to make cuts of $3 million to $3.2 million by the end of June.

Superintendent Dawn Tarzian told board members that cuts of that magnitude would be devastating to programs and would almost certainly result in staff reductions. She said it would be damaging to elementary students if their teacher was laid off this late in the school year and the students transferred to other classrooms, or a high school student told the elective class he has been taking for weeks was canceled immediately.

The Education Stability Fund will have an estimated

$393.4 million by the end of June, the board was told. Tarzian said the goal is to use the Corvallis portion of the released funds to buy time to develop a 2009-10 budget that causes the least amount of classroom disruption.

In other action:

• The board heard from several parents of students at Lincoln Middle School. They were concerned that the middle school might be closed based on a recent review made by the administration. Students from Inavale School were transferred to Lincoln and the middle school was formed, the board was told. There are now 60 students in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades. That process included a scheduled review after three years, which is now due.

The district said the school's staff is stretched thin because the K-8 building offers dual language immersion and environmental threads in addition to developing its middle school program. Last year, the school did not meet the adequate yearly progress guidelines of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Parents said they were concerned that a survey taken among some parents was poorly developed and did not represent a true random sampling. The general consensus of parents at the meeting was that their students were thriving at the school, which has formed numerous community partnerships.

A decision is expected by the end of the month. The board also:

• Was asked by Mayor Charles Tomlinson to support an Urban Renewal District for downtown Corvallis, which will be on the May ballot. Board members were told it "is a community planning and financing tool that cities use to help improve key areas or neighborhoods."

Tomlinson said 65 cities and counties in Oregon have urban renewal programs, with 90 programs in effect statewide;

• Approved an annual tuition of $3,195, or $355 per month for nine months, for the kindergarten enrichment program, which expands the current half-day kindergarten. The district will ask the Corvallis Public Schools Foundation to provide at least $50,000 to help reduce tuition. Without the foundation's assistance, tuition could be as much as $425 per month.