Superintendent's Office

The superintendent provides leadership for the district and is ultimately responsible for all areas of the district’s operation. The superintendent provides executive leadership and administrative direction for all departments, services and programs, and is responsible for proposing and implementing long-range plans.

Dr. Mickelson has served as the superintendent of Eugene School District 4J since July 1, 2025.

From the Superintendent 

Dear 4J Community,

It has been a challenging start to the new school year, given significant changes, fewer resources, and the impact of last year’s budget reductions. It would be wonderful to have a school year focused entirely on delivering great instruction and experiences to our students, but this moment for K-12 and 4J demands that we also plan for another rough financial picture in 2027-28. 

On October 21, our school board adopted a resolution to prepare for another reduction in force (RIF) to address a large projected shortfall for next year. At that same meeting, I shared our early projections of $30-$35 million deficit. There is much we won’t know for some time about both our expected revenue and expenses next year, and that means our anticipated deficit could grow or shrink from our initial estimate as things change with state finances and multiple economic conditions.

We are being realistic but conservative so that our planning does not leave us unprepared. The biggest unknown, the amount of the State School Fund, won’t be set until the end of the legislative session in June. Our 2027-28 budget must be set long before then.
While the exact amount is unclear, the existence of a large shortfall is not a surprise and it was discussed during last spring's budget process. Despite reducing staffing by 265 FTE and some $30 million last year, we are still spending more on our services than we expect to receive. We carried over more than $16 million of structural deficit into this year that necessitated using one-time money to balance our budget, and that money is not available again for ongoing expenses. Aligning our staffing and services to our reliable revenue is not something that could be done in a single year. It is a grueling multi-year process. Once again this year, we will share information regularly including on our dedicated financial web pages, and there will be many opportunities to ask questions and share thoughts. We will begin with a community survey at the start of November with in-person and virtual meetings to follow.

Through all of this, our commitment remains the same: to prioritize direct, student-facing services, adjusting for enrollment decline. Our challenge is that in the last two years we have already eliminated many expenses and positions that, while valuable, were not in direct support of students. We don’t have many options left, and we continue to be a large, complex school district with operations needs that are not optional. Nevertheless, we are looking critically at everything we do in our effort to protect our core mission. 

Public education goes through challenging periods, but that doesn’t make the uncertainty or the impact on schools, students, families and staff any easier. I know the road ahead will bring difficult decisions, and I don’t want to minimize what that means. We will work through this together, with continued commitment to our students. 

In community,

— Dr. Miriam Mickelson

Learn more about Dr. Miriam Mickelson