Everett, Wash.
Published: Friday, June 26, 2009

Mukilteo avoids teacher layoffs

The district had to cut programs, though, to deal with a $6.1 million shortfall

By Eric Stevick
Herald Writer

 MUKILTEO -- When the Mukilteo School Board approved a $139.3 million annual operating budget earlier this week, it avoided teacher layoffs but cut before- and after-school instructional programs as well as seventh-grade team sports.

In confronting a $6.1 million shortfall, the district also is reducing teacher training, educational assistants' hours and four positions in the central administration office while dipping into reserves for $1.3 million.

"You don't want to lose anything," said Andy Muntz, a school district spokesman. "When you cut $6 million out of the budget, you are cutting into muscle."

School board president Judy Schwab estimates that the loss of the district's extended-day program equates to about a month of extra instruction nearly 1,000 elementary school students won't receive.

The sports cuts would eliminate seventh-grade football, boys and girls basketball, volleyball and softball. All told, it would affect about 350 seventh-grade students across the district.

While the district avoided layoffs of teachers, it did have to transfer many to different positions vacated through retirements, resignations and leaves of absence. Eleven elementary school teachers who worked with students in pull-out sessions in resource rooms will be reassigned to regular classrooms.

For Schwab, it was the toughest budget she's worked on in her 12 years on the board.

"We keep asking our staff to do more with less all the time," Schwab said.

The $6 million shortfall included steep state funding reductions, such as $2.2 million from voter-approved Initiative 728 money that is earmarked for smaller class sizes and other ways to improve student achievement. It also includes increased expenses, such as rising salaries and medical costs from labor contract agreements, Muntz said.

After hearing from parents, the school board decided to restore ninth-grade sports teams and middle school swimming that had been eliminated in a preliminary budget plan.

The district eventually could create a pay-to-play policy to support athletics, but Superintendent Marci Larsen worries some kids could miss out.

"A large number of our students come from families that are struggling financially," Larsen said. "More than half of the students at three of our secondary schools qualify for the federal program that provides free or reduced-price meals to low-income families. Consequently, I'm concerned that a pay-to-play program will make it difficult for many students to take part in athletics and that it could cause inequity issues between the schools that have a high percentage of low-income students and those that don't."

Larsen said she doesn't want to close the door on the idea, however.

"Depending on what happens with the economy and the state Legislature, we will consider a process to re-examine all of our options and see whether a workable pay-to-play program can be developed for the 2010-11 school year," she said.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA