La Grande schools report student gains, Tiger House progress, service cuts planned

Scott Carpenter said La Grande School District is trying to balance three priorities at once: keep student outcomes moving up, finish Tiger House, and absorb service cuts driven by flat funding, higher costs and lower enrollment. The district serves roughly 2,000 students, and La Grande High School’s four-year graduation rate is 93.2%, a figure district leaders have pointed to as a recent high.

That academic progress is the bright spot in Carpenter’s update. Alongside the graduation numbers, the district highlighted student achievements as evidence that classrooms are still producing results even as the budget tightens. For families, that is the central tradeoff: academic gains are being reported at the same time the district is narrowing some of the extra supports that have helped students get there.

The capital project moving forward is Tiger House, the student-built duplex at 905 and 907 I Avenue, on the corner of 3rd Street and I Avenue. The first two-unit townhouse, about 2,200 square feet, was completed and celebrated on Feb. 28, 2025 after construction began in August 2023. Grande Ronde Hospital bought the first unit for temporary housing for traveling and short-term medical staff, and the district has said a second Tiger Home was planned beside it. LGSD has also said the project was supported by a $515,000 federal funding allocation, with help from GCT Land Management, Boise Cascade, Woodgrain, the City of La Grande, Union County Commissioners and the offices of Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden.

The cuts are the hardest part for parents to absorb. In a March 18 letter, the district said La Grande High School would end district-funded college-credit scholarships for dual-credit and on-site college classes, including courses through Eastern Oregon University and Blue Mountain Community College. It will also end unlimited online-course access, limiting students to either a full-time online schedule or one online class per semester, with supervised computer-lab work and proctored tests. The district will discontinue an in-person alternative education program while keeping the GED pathway.

Those changes matter most for students who depend on lower-cost college credit, flexible scheduling or an alternate setting to stay on track. Families can still choose dual-credit options at their own expense, and colleges will continue to offer discounted rates, but the shift moves more of the cost onto households already facing rising expenses. The district’s budget committee is scheduled to meet May 20 at 5 p.m. and May 27 at 7 p.m. at the district office on North Willow Street, where those tradeoffs will be discussed in public.