Marysville school officials struggle to explain shortfall

By Kate Reardon

Herald Writer

MARYSVILLE — School district officials say they made careful and hard choices this yearwhen trying to clean up a mess left by a prior administration that led to $3.6 million in budget cuts. Now they’re trying to explain them.

But critics say the educational community has suffered this fall because students have to pay to play sports, there’s no longer a sheriff’s deputy at the high school and coaches aren’t being paid as much as they used to be.

An update on the district’s finances on Monday night was the administration’s first public attempt to ease community concerns and explain the budget crunch.

"People are sharing the frustration that we share, that we wish there were pat answers for every concern," said Dave Steelsmith, district spokesman. "It’s a search for answers here. Unfortunately, there’s no simple solution on the scopes right now."

Randy Davis, president of the Marysville Coaches Association, said his group is exploring options in forming a collective bargaining unit after bonus pay for longevity was taken away from some coaches.

Scott Knowles, who taught and coached for 20 years at the high school, said he wants the district to drop a $35 fee students now have to pay to play after-school sports.

Julann Spromberg said Monday night the district must improve communication to end rumors and set the record straight.

District officials said they are trying to improve communication with the public.

"Because there has been a lot of public concern over ongoing situations such as the budget, rather than try to speculate on what is going on, we found it necessary to wait until our newest budget information was available," Steelsmith said Tuesday.

Finance director Melissa Patterson reviewed the budget problems at the end of a five-hour board meeting Monday night. Some critics stayed the duration to hear the explanations.

"The guiding philosophy on this was to cut items that would least impact kids, with the understanding that those programs would be reinstated once funding became available again," Steelsmith said.

Patterson said the surprise shortfall was the result of several things, the biggest of which was the district’s mistake in over-calculating how many students would enroll in the district in the 2000-01 school year. Enrollment helps determine state funding.

The district hired enough staff to handle the projected enrollment number. But, when the actual enrollment numbers came in low, the district was stuck because contracts with those employees were already in place, finance director Patterson said.

Compounding that, Patterson said, were higher-than-expected costs for utilities and substitute teachers, unbudgeted costs of $500,000 for employee contract benefits and a mismanagement of district funds.

A recent review from the state auditor’s office showed that the district overpaid by more than $40,000 a former employee upon his resignation.

Patterson said the district also mismanaged funds when it lost $119,763 in federal Indian Education grant money the district used it in 1994-95 but never collected.

And, Patterson said, the district was dinged more than $50,000 by the state when it didn’t use all the money it was given for a learning assistance program. The state took back money and reduced future funding, she said.

A lot of the issues being talked about now stem from the prior administration, Steelsmith said.

"The budget problems are a great example," he said. "It’s one that unfortunately Dr. (Linda) Whitehead inherited."

Steelsmith said the district is trying to address the issues and learn from them so the same mistakes don’t happen again.

"As a result we’re in a variety of processes," he said. "Trying to communicate that to the public can be frustrating because we don’t always have complete information to give people."

You can call Herald Writer Kate Reardon at 425-339-3455

or send e-mail to reardon@heraldnet.com.

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