MILL CREEK — Parents and teachers who attended an Everett School District meeting to pinpoint budget cuts Monday night, March 8, were nearly unanimous on one thing: stay away from classrooms.
The reality is that the goal may soon be impossible.
Currently, federal stimulus dollars are carrying the state education budget, Superintendent Gary Cohn said. “We don’t think the federal government is going to come around with another wheelbarrow of money to keep those things going,” he said.
So the effort now is not just to balance the budget in the short-term but to seek fixes that will hold for the long-term, he said.
The meeting at Jackson High School was the first of three planned across the school district as administrators look to trim as much as $7 million.
A fiscal advisory council made up largely of district staff, as well as four community members and two teenagers, has met since December to come up with savings ideas. The group came up with 15 possibilities, including having high school students ride public transit, increasing athletic fees, and cutting a total of more than 36 teaching positions.
At Monday’s meeting, about 20 people joined administrators and others around five work tables to prioritize the a la carte list.
“We don’t know if this is a good blend or not. That’s why we want to bounce it off you,” parent and council member Eric Sprink told one of the small groups.
The mood around one table was reluctant – “It’s tough,” one parent said with a sigh – as well as frustrated.
After last year’s budget cuts, many parents are beginning to get fed up, said Patricia Betz of Mill Creek, who is the PTA legislative chair for Heatherwood Middle School.
“The mantra is ‘no more cuts,’” Betz said.
Like some others, she wondered about more creative ideas that weren’t on the shopping list – such as merging with another district or addressing teacher salaries.
“No one will touch the union. Why not?” Betz asked. “It’s the elephant in the room.”
Fiscal advisory council members were advised to stay away from contractual issues in their budget talks to stay on firm legal ground, Cohn said.
Negotiations between the district and teachers union pick up again later this year.
The district last year slashed $9 million, nearly 5 percent, from its budget while largely sparing classroom teaching positions. This year’s cuts still are unknown. Depending on the House, Senate or Gov. Chris Gregoire’s initial “all cuts” proposals, the Everett district would need to trim from $3.8 million to $7 million, Cohn said.
For now, the district is going with the worst-case scenario.
Attendees at Monday’s meeting were nearly unanimous that teaching positions be left untouched. Many also were reticent to reduce bus service that would have many elementary school students walk to school.
The things participants were willing to touch first varied, from raising community rental fees and lunch prices to laying off custodians and central office staff.
But even though last year’s cuts didn’t result in teacher layoffs, that doesn’t mean classrooms weren’t affected, one teacher noted.
Monica Sullivan, who has a third-grader at Silver Lake Elementary, teaches a class of English language learners at North Middle School in Everett. As part of last year’s budget wrangling, she was on the list of layoffs, only to be rehired. But she said she lost paraeducator support, even as her class went from 14 to 24 students, meaning it’s on her alone to give one-on-one help to the diverse group of immigrant children.
Any closer to the bone this year or next and “the community will really feel the hit,” Sullivan said.
Lawmakers must set a budget by March 11, unless they extend the session. The Everett district must notify teachers of potential layoffs by May 15. The final 2010-11 budget will be adopted in June or early July.
Everett is one of the state’s largest districts with 26 schools, more than 18,000 students and a $188 million annual operations budget.
The proposed cuts
Listed are the 15 ideas for budget cuts compiled by the Everett School District’s fiscal advisory council that were presented to community members at the budget meeting March 8. Shown are estimated savings and a brief description. Items are in no particular order.
District wide non-employee cost reductions
• $400,000 – STUDENT TRANSPORTATION: Match bus service to state funding, which would have most students living within a mile of school walk to the building, unless there is no safe walking path.
• $300,000 – STUDENT TRANSPORTATION: Partner with public transportation agencies to have high school students ride transit instead of school buses.
• $1,183,000 – VARIOUS SAVINGS: A potpourri of expected savings through energy efficient utility savings, non-essential software licenses, reduced staff training and reducing school and department discretionary spending by 7.5 to 10 percent.
Increased revenues
• $75,000 – ATHLETIC FEES: Raise sports participation fees from $25 per sport at middle school to $40 and from $75 to $100 per sport at high school. A district administrator said the increase likely would put the district’s fees above average.
• $54,000 – COMMUNITY RENTAL FEES: Increase by 15 percent.
• $185,000 – LUNCH PRICES: Raise by 25 cents to $2.75 at elementary, $3 at middle and $3.25 at high schools.
Central support staff reductions
• $720,000 – CENTRAL ADMIN. AND SUPPORT POSITIONS: Reduce the staff of 106 by seven positions (6.6 percent).
• $59,000 – MAINTENANCE/GROUNDS STAFF: Reduce the staff of 34 by one position (2.9 percent).
School support staff
• $160,000 – SUPPORT STAFF: Reduce the staff of 271 clerical, paraeducator, health services and other school support positions by three (1.1 percent).
• $105,000 – CUSTODIAL STAFF: Reduce the staff of 73 by two positions (2.8 percent).
Athletics
• $28,000 – HIGH SCHOOL COACHES AND ADVISORS: Reduce by three positions per school.
Certificated staff
• $1,890,000 – ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS: Reduce staff of 456 by 20.5 across 17 schools, continuing to honor class size goals (4.5 percent).
• $460,000 – MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS: Reduce staff of 194 by five positions across five schools, continuing to honor class size goals (2.4 percent).
• $1,020,000 – HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS: Reduce staff of 298 by 11 across four schools, continuing to honor class size goals (3.7 percent).
• $370,000 – DISTRICT-WIDE INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT: Reduce staff of 12 by four positions (33.3 percent).
TOTAL ESTIMATED SAVINGS: $7,009,000
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