DARRINGTON — With fuel and food prices skyrocketing and the economy in a slump, schools across the country are cutting back.
In Massachusetts, districts are saving money by closing schools. In Los Angeles, teacher training is being cut.
The picture is particularly bleak in Darrington, where nearly 20 percent of the town’s 38 teachers have been laid off. An administrator and six classified employees, such as custodians and teaching assistants, also were cut. The Food and Consumer Science Education program, formerly known as home economics, was eliminated, and the music program is on the chopping block. School lunch prices are rising and, for the first time, student athletes must pay to play.
“When you’re the second-largest employer in a community, making budget cuts is really difficult,” Superintendent Larry Johnson said. “When you’re a small community and you cut as deep as we’ve cut in some areas, it’s very difficult and people are very concerned.”
Many school districts in Snohomish County are slashing programs and raising fees for activities and food, but Darrington is facing the most drastic cuts.
The district’s main problem is fewer students. The teacher cuts mirror almost exactly the projected decline in enrollment.
With the downturn in the timber industry, family-wage jobs are hard to find in Darrington. Higher gas prices are making it uneconomical for some parents to commute from their homes in the Cascade foothills to bigger cities for work. Consequently, they are moving — and taking their kids with them.
Nearly 20 percent fewer students are expected in Darrington schools in the coming school year than were enrolled in 2007-08.
“That’s just staggering,” Johnson said.
The district expects 420 students next year, down from 515 in 2007-08. In October 2001, there were 632 students. Thirty students left the school in just one month last school year, Johnson said.
Since the state pays schools around $5,000 for each student, declining enrollment hurts districts’ bottom lines.
The budget cuts have been controversial in Darrington, a mountain community of around 1,300. Residents know the teachers who have been laid off and they don’t want the Loggers’ pep band to disappear.
“It just sucks, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Darrington parent Julie Ford, whose daughter played clarinet in the school band. “That really bites. We had a new music teacher and she was awesome, just awesome.”
A Legislature-approved cost-of-living increase for teachers also is adding to Darrington’s budget woes. The state pays for some teachers, but school districts must cover the costs for others. The increase is costing Snohomish County schools around $20 million, according to Northwest Educational Service District 189 and local school district estimates.
Edmonds schools dealt with the increase and other budget problems by closing a program for teens with behavioral issues. It also cut bus routes and is considering closing Woodway Elementary and Evergreen Elementary in the 2009-10 school year.
In Monroe, lunch prices went up.
The Snohomish, Everett and Mukilteo school districts all plan to dip into the reserves.
In Darrington, entire programs are being trimmed.
Rising fuel prices led administrators and school board members to decide to stop busing students to Mukilteo to attend vocational classes at the Sno-Isle Tech Skills Center. It cost $70,000 to bus eight Darrington students to Sno-Isle during the 2007-08 year, Johnson said.
It was tough cutting transportation to the vocational education program, something the district has been paying for for at least two decades, Johnson said. He hopes to find a cheaper way to get students to Mukilteo.
“You feel like Solomon,” he said. “Do we have a music program or an arts program — or do we transport students to Sno-Isle?”
The district re-hired the band teacher and a few other laid-off teachers after other teachers resigned, opening space on the staff. However, she was hired to teach a core subject — not band. Nonetheless, the district hopes to restart the band program as soon as possible, business manager Myra Lewis said.
Despite a painfully tight budget, Darrington schools plan to launch new programs next year to improve student achievement. In an effort to boost lagging state test scores, the district is changing the way reading and math are taught.
“I’ve lived in Darrington my whole life, so I know it’s difficult to accept change,” Lewis said. “I also recognize that it’s necessary. … It feels like a bloodbath now, but I just feel encouraged by what’s ahead.”
Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.
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