Beaverton students scored slightly higher in English and math on 2025-26 state tests, but science proficiency fell by about two percentage points.

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) released 2025-26 Oregon Statewide Assessment results in late September, the Valley Times reported. The numbers show a mixed picture for the Beaverton School District (BSD) at a time when declining enrollment and a looming budget gap are forcing hard choices about the district's future.

In English language arts (ELA), 53.4% of BSD students scored proficient in 2025-26, up from 53.1% the prior year. Both figures sit well above the statewide average of 43.8%.

Math showed a similar uptick. BSD went from 43% proficiency to 43.7%, also above the statewide average of 32.9%.

Science moved in the other direction. BSD proficiency dropped from 39.8% to 37.7%. The district still outperformed the statewide average of 30.6%, but the gap narrowed.

Statewide, proficiency rose in all three subjects for the second straight year, according to state education officials. Math climbed 1.4 percentage points, ELA rose 0.8 points and science gained 0.6 points. Still, fewer than half of Oregon students who took the tests scored proficient in any of the three subjects.

ODE Director Charlene Williams said the results "give us reason to be encouraged, but also reinforce how much more there is to accomplish," according to the Valley Times.

Budget pressure looms

The test scores land as BSD grapples with shrinking enrollment and a widening budget hole. The district enrolled 36,187 students in fall 2026, down from 41,374 in fall 2019, a loss of nearly 5,200 students in seven years, The Oregonian reported.

Enrollment is projected to drop by another 3,000 to 7,000 students over the next decade, Robert McCracken, the district's demographics and facility planning specialist, told school board members, according to The Oregonian.

The district faces a $17.3 million shortfall in 2026-27 and projects a $42 million gap for 2027-28, according to KGW.

BSD Chief Financial Officer Jessica Jones pointed to rising costs, increased staffing and funding reductions tied to declining enrollment.

Superintendent Tony Smith, who started July 1, has launched a two-year process that could lead to boundary changes, program relocations and school closures, according to The Oregonian.

BSD's roughly $168 million reserve fund gives the district more room than Portland or Salem, but Smith said reserves cannot patch recurring shortfalls indefinitely.

Smith described the situation as two distinct problems on the same road: "a structural deficit compounded by roughly 800 to 900 declining enrollment per year," he said, according to KGW.

Budget proposals are expected to take shape by January. Proposals for specific structural changes could come next fall, with school board votes possible in December 2027 on changes that would take effect in fall 2028, according to The Oregonian.