Edmonds spares music, sports
Published 11:58 am Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Most sports, fifth-grade instrumental music and school activity bus runs at middle schools escaped $10.1 million in budget cuts by the Edmonds School District.
The school board approved the recommendation from Superintendent Nick Brossoit at its June 2 meeting.
Up to 11 full-time equivalent music positions were on the chopping block for a potential cut of $465,000, and some of those positions will be saved.
“I think the far-reaching implications were not thought through,” said Phil Onishi, a music teacher at Sherwood Elementary School. “I’m extremely grateful that the board realized the impact it had on a lot of folks.”
Boys and girls swimming, which was at risk of being suspended for a year, dance and drill, and golf, also are likely to get a reprieve with $224,000 in athletic funding restored. Coaches and student-athletes in those sports were at the meeting and expressed thanks.
Some cuts still could be made to middle school sports and transportation to games, but it will be up to a committee made up of coaches, staff members, students and parents to evaluate the remaining budget. Athletic fees likely will be raised to $100 for high school athletes and $40 for middle school.
Brossoit hopes to save more programs from the budget knife, including daily half-day kindergarten classes. That depends, he said, on negotiations with unions. Currently, administrators propose holding kindergarten on two full days and one half-day a week to save on transportation costs. Brossoit also hopes to restore more high school teachers and restore paraeducator hours.
But many programs will be cut and some left the meeting disappointed.
Several people spoke in favor of retaining full-time library media specialists at Cedar Way, Edmonds, Brier and Lynndale elementaries and Scriber Lake High School.
Bus service within a one-mile radius also remained in the cuts. The district sent a letter to about 15 parents whose children attend day care at King’s Temple, a nonprofit in Mountlake Terrace, that bus service from school would be discontinued.
