MARYSVILLE — Varsity athletic programs at Marysville Getchell High School may not start for another year.
Waiting to begin varsity and junior varsity athletics at the new school will save the Marysville School District $576,000 without having to cut existing programs, according to a repo
rt by Superintendent Larry Nyland. That is one way the district is working to make up for a shortfall of about $2 million in this year’s budget brought on by the Legislature’s decision Dec. 11 to take away $250 million in public school funding mid-year.
The Marysville School Board i
s expected to vote on the topic at a board meeting Monday night.
The district has received comments from parents with children attending Marysville schools asking to keep sports programs, Nyland said. Students at Marysville Getchell will still be able to play sports only at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, he added.
“It’s been a significant number of people who have taken the time to write heartfelt e-mails,” Nyland said. “We’re not doing away with sports at Getchell. Students at Getchell are able to participate in sports and they do so under the banner of Marysville-Pilchuck. It’s similar to what a lot of districts do when they open a new school.”
Marysville Getchell High School opened in fall 2010 with C squad sports teams to give students, often in the lower grade levels, who want to play certain sports and do not make the junior and varsity teams a chance to play, Nyland said. The school board’s initial plan was to begin varsity programs at Marysville Getchell in 2012. That plan changed when the board voted to start both junior varsity and varsity programs in 2011.
“We’ve tried to make up for the lack of varsity sports by having C squads,” Nyland said.
The school district has considered three options for varsity sports programs at Marysville Getchell, according to Jodi Runyon, executive assistant to the superintendent. Those options include moving forward with varsity programs as originally planned, delaying the program until 2012, and starting programs in 2012 but eliminating C squads and middle school swimming and using the funds from those programs to buy half of the uniforms and equipment for the varsity sports programs.
In his report, Nyland recommends the approval of delaying varsity sports at the new school until 2012. The plan would:
•Save $60,000 by ending middle school swimming and C squads for the 2011-12 school year;
End 7th grade team sports and C squads, saving $200,000. Wrestling, track, cross country and volleyball would still be offered to seventh graders;
Use the money saved for purchases of uniforms and equipment for the varsity programs in 2012.
Sports programs in the Marysville School District cost $1.2 million every year. The money pays for coaching, transportation, officials and fixing aging sports equipment. The district also pays for uniforms and equipment while school booster clubs fund the costs of extras such as summer camps.
Delaying varsity sports programs at Marysville Getchell isn’t the only way the district is planning to cut their budget.
The board also is expected to vote on a change to the superintendent’s employment contract of up to $8,741. The superintendent voluntarily made the recommendation to give up the 10 days of vacation pay for the school year. His annual salary is $165,000.
“I need to do my share albeit in a small way to help close the gap,” he said. “I want to convey the idea we’re all in this together, so it’s not a huge impact on one employee group.”
The district in December stopped text book purchases and teacher training that were funded by basic education dollars, restricted all basic education travel, hiring, overtime and substitutes and reduced their ending fund balance to emergency levels to meet payroll and pay bills.
The cuts may be enough to cover the best case scenario, Nyland said, but if further cuts are made by the Legislature, school district salaries and positions may also be affected.
“We’ve done all of the things that we can do that don’t impact salaries or jobs,” he said.
The district asked staff and labor leaders for suggestions on how to cut the budget in December. They received suggestions that fill almost 20 pages.
“A lot of (suggestions) echoed the things we have moved forward with as far as can we postpone staff training,” Nyland said. “There’s a variety of them I need to put in a memo and get back to staff on.”
Even if they enact these two budget cuts, the school board plans to review recommendations for more reductions during a Jan. 31 meeting and take action during the Feb. 7 board meeting. There’s a sense of urgency to the decision because the cuts are being made from a smaller budget with each passing month, Nyland said.
“We’re on a really tight time schedule to make some really difficult decisions,” he said.
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.
Monday meeting
The Marysville School Board plans to meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the district administration office at 4220 80th St. NE.
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