PENDLETON — By the time the Pendleton School District’s budget committee got hold of a draft of the 2020-21 budget on Thursday, it already needed some updating.

The proposed budget made several assumptions: full state funding, consistent funds from federal programs and the renewal of a local property tax levy. After Tuesday’s election, the latter assumption was rendered obsolete.

Debbie McBee, the vice chair of the Pendleton School Board, said she kept watching returns come in Tuesday night, hoping one of the updates would turn the tide and push the “Yes” votes into the lead. But the results held firm, with residents voting down a levy that had been in place for 20 years, 52 percent to 48 percent.

A veteran of several funding campaigns for the district, McBee said she wished she and other levy supporters had spent more time reaching out to swing voters given the narrow margin.

“I think it’s going to have an impact on students, unfortunately,” she said.

Combining the local tax proceeds with state equalization dollars netted the district $530,000, and Budget Officer Michelle Jones was quick to produce a supplementary spreadsheet that excised the money from the budget.

Jones was able to shield teachers and students from the cuts by deferring a roofing project and making other changes at the margins, and the rest of the budget was mostly status quo.

But Jones warned the committee that the numbers in the budget were a ceiling rather than a floor, and for a budget that derives two-thirds of its discretionary budget from the state, how 2020-21 plays out largely relies on decisions made in Salem.

In a budget forecast, state economists estimated the state would lose out on $2.7 billion in revenue due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was obviously not great,” Jones told the committee. “The silver lining, if there is one at all, is it’s not as bad as we anticipated.”

Although the coronavirus is striking a blow to public funding across the state, it may have helped Pendleton’s budget in the short term.

“The General Fund budget for 20-21 reflects an increase of 8% over 19-20,” Superintendent Chris Fritsch wrote in his annual budget message. “A majority of this increase is due to an increase in the budgeted beginning fund balance. This increase is largely due to the abrupt end to the school year, which resulted in expenditure savings tied to transportation, utilities and substitute payroll costs.”

Jones said the district was also able to preserve anticipated salary increases for staff and will modestly expand staff next year, although it has implemented a hiring freeze as a countermeasure.

While the committee ultimately approved a $56 million budget, Jones still has contingency plans at the ready should revenue head south.

If the state doesn’t fully fund education, Jones said the district may have to consider furloughs and layoffs. And the state’s economists anticipated additional 10-figure budget shortfalls in the future.

Jones said she’s focused on what the state will decide in the months ahead.

“This summer will be interesting,” she said.

As for the half million dollars lost from the levy’s defeat at the ballot box, McBee said the school board will discuss whether to pursue it again in 2021 at the next board meeting in June.