Back to class: Budgets pinch schools, students
DEBBY ABE; The News Tribune
The fallout from $710 million in state education cuts will start to rain down on schools as most South Sound kids troop back to class this week.
In Gig Harbor and the Key Peninsula, full-day kindergartners will go to class four days a week, not five.
In Puyallup, some 3,000 students who were eligible to take the bus last year will have to walk.
In Lakewood, campus lawns won’t be mowed as often, fewer flowers will be planted and buildings will wait longer for new paint.
In many districts, sports and other extracurricular activities will be reduced, merged or cost more for athletes to participate.
At least three schools are closing. Class sizes might rise in some buildings. Hundreds of students will meet unfamiliar teachers who’ve been shuffled to different schools.
Paul Rosier, executive director of the Washington Association of School Administrators, says this year’s statewide budget reductions are the most serious he’s seen in 28 years as an educator.
“I don’t know of a district that didn’t lose positions,” he said. “No matter how you want to cut it, this has been a difficult time for nearly all districts in the state of Washington.”
And yet things could have been worse. The federal stimulus program will pump nearly $1.1 billion into Washington K-12 education this school year and the next. Nearly $136.5 million of that funding is headed for South Sound districts this school year alone, much of it to backfill programs that help special education and low-income students.
Tacoma – the largest local school district, and one that has weathered the recession relatively well – is a big beneficiary of the stimulus package.
Meanwhile, some districts didn’t shed as many teachers and other employees as they initially warned.
In the spring, headlines announced cash-strapped districts were notifying scores of teachers they might be laid off. State law requires districts to notify teachers by May 15 if their contracts might not be renewed.
But after budget pictures cleared up and retirements were accommodated, far fewer of those staff members actually lost jobs.
Bethel schools, for instance, sent notices to 220 educators that they could face layoff or reduced hours. District officials now calculate they’ll enter the school year with a net loss of 30 teaching and other certificated staff positions, and seven fewer classified jobs.
Likewise, Peninsula officials estimate they’ll have 15 to 20 fewer certificated positions this year – a fraction of the 67 people who received warning notices last spring.
While every position loss doesn’t necessarily mean someone was laid off, Rosier said leaving a job vacant typically means more work for others to absorb – or less good work that can be accomplished.
Will children’s education be hurt?
“It hasn’t been helped,” Rosier said. “It means you have fewer people to meet the demands of the kind of quality education we need to provide in this state.”
South Sound school officials uniformly say they tried to keep cuts as far from classrooms as possible, but the effect of revenue losses will vary depending on a district’s circumstances and choices.
Puyallup’s decision to end all-day kindergarten will mean a different school for Amy Dedominicis’ two children.
The mom wanted her 5-year-old daughter Annika to attend Ridgecrest Elementary’s all-day kindergarten program, the same one her son Matthew thrived in last year.
When the district canceled it to save money, Dedominicis and her partner refinanced their home to come up with the $34,000-plus in tuition to send both children to Charles Wright Academy in University Place, which offers all-day kindergarten.
“The more she’s exposed to a good educational environment, the better it will be in the long run,” Dedominicis said. “We’re education people. We want the kids to get the best education they can.”
SLICING THE BUDGETS
State lawmakers had little choice earlier this year but to reduce education spending to help close a $9 billion shortfall in the state’s two-year operating budget.
Though legislators trimmed $710 million from schools, K-12 education will still receive nearly $6.9 billion this school year, the largest slice of the state budget.
But it won’t be enough to maintain last year’s level of service. That would have cost close to $7.4 billion, not counting school employees’ cost-of-living increase, which the state also canceled, according to state Superintendent of Public Instruction finance officials.
One big source of pain: the 75 percent whack to Initiative 728 funding. Those are state dollars to lower class size, train staff, support all-day kindergarten and other options from which districts can choose.
I-728 funded 4,000 teachers statewide last school year, said Jennifer Priddy, with the state superintendent’s office.
“When you’re looking at a 75 percent reduction, you can’t shuffle things around to look like there wasn’t a cut,” said Priddy, assistant superintendent for financial resources. “There will be deep, deep reductions in programs supported by I-728.”
Just ask Sumner and Puyallup. Sumner is eliminating its 12.5 fulltime-equivalent professional development specialists who helped fellow teachers evaluate instruction, analyze test scores and develop strategies to help children learn. Puyallup is cutting 28 similar posts.
In both districts, teachers who held those positions returned to the classroom.
University Place could see class sizes inch up at the junior high and senior high levels, said Ruth Russell, the district’s executive director of business services.
The district will honor teacher contract provisions limiting secondary class sizes to an average of 30 students, but classes will more often reach that cap this year. And the district can’t afford small classes in math and English. Last year, for instance, English classes were limited to 26 students.
“I don’t know that it’ll be a big difference to kids that they’re in a class of 30 versus 26, but it is a workload issue for the teachers if you teach five classes of English and have 10 more papers to read every night,” Russell said.
FEWER STUDENTS, LESS MONEY
The situation is worst for districts with declining enrollment.
Besides receiving less state revenue in general, they’ll also get less of the funding the state doles out on a per-pupil basis. It affects districts small, medium and large:
• White River in Buckley has hemorrhaged students the past four years, and expects to lose another 109 from last year, making for a total enrollment of 4,035. To help fill a $3.6 million shortfall, the district cut nearly 11 percent of its teaching force – about 28 full-time-equivalent positions. It closed White River Middle School, Wickersham (elementary) School of Discovery and moved its alternative programs out of leased property to the closed middle school site.
• Peninsula expects to enroll 8,421 students this fall, a loss of 330 students from last year. To help make up an $8 million shortfall, the district is shedding 15 to 20 teaching and other certificated positions and reducing all-day kindergarten from five to four days a week. Administrators are taking pay cuts of 1 percent to 5 percent, including Superintendent Terry Bouck, whose salary will shrink by 5 percent.
• Puyallup made dozens of cuts to close its $13.5 million shortfall, caused partly by a projected loss of more than 150 students. The district expects enrollment will come in at 20,679. It closed tiny Hilltop Elementary School, ended the outdoor education program for sixth-graders and is eliminating more than 900 bus stops within a one-mile radius of schools. The district employs about 40 fewer support staff and lost about 110 teaching positions.
With so much budget cutting, some citizens might wonder how several South Sound school districts can afford to open new schools this year, or unveil remodeled older buildings.
The answer: These projects are financed through a funding stream separate from school operations. They generally get the bulk of their money from local bond measures, usually approved by voters months or years ago when the economy was stronger.
SHUFFLING STAFF
The domino effect from position cuts will result in dozens of new faces at many South Sound schools.
When districts reduce their workforce, most labor contracts call for the least experienced teachers to be laid off first. Teachers with the most seniority fill the remaining positions. Displaced teachers remain with the district but might teach a different grade or subject at a different school.
This year, Peninsula and Puyallup will have more displaced teachers than usual.
Sara Clerget is one of them. She taught kindergarten the past 21/2 years at Edgerton Elementary in Puyallup, but was laid off after the school year ended. This month, she accepted a job teaching struggling readers at Northwood and Mountain View elementary schools in Puyallup.
Clerget is excited about the opportunity, but wishes she had more experience to tackle such a challenging position.
“I think it will be a tougher year for kids (districtwide) and for teachers trying to learn the new subjects, the new curriculums,” she said.
“I’ll do my best. I’ll be working a lot of extra hours ... to learn it on my own.”
CHANGES IN SPORTS PROGRAMS
Student athletes will be among those most affected by budget constraints.
Auburn, Steilacoom, University Place and Yelm all eliminated some sports. Franklin Pierce cut $20,000 from its sports equipment budget, and $18,000 to replace uniforms. Peninsula halved its middle school sports budget from last year’s $250,000, and raised pay-to-play fees.
Sumner reduced several coaching and athletic coordinator positions to save $200,000, while trying to allow as many kids as possible to participate, district athletic director Tim Thomsen said.
To make that happen, boys and girls on high school cross country and golf teams will combine practices and share coaches. Some coaches will oversee teams from multiple schools. Water polo and dance teams will combine into one district team for each sport.
The “Combined Bonney Lake Sumner Panther Dance Team” is probably the only dance team in the state with members from across a district, said coach Jill McKinley.
The team has had to grapple with how to combine two rival squads, choose colors and decide which school events to perform at.
“The concern for me and parents and administrators is that we don’t put them in a situation to get any flak from the audience, because they’re wearing colors of the other team,” McKinley said.
Sixteen members are from Bonney Lake High and three from Sumner High. Five Sumner girls initially made the team, but decided against continuing when they discovered they’d have to practice in Bonney Lake, McKinley said.
The team will wear Bonney Lake’s silver and teal colors for their regular uniform. But when they dance at the rival football game, they will wear neutral outfits to perform Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
Team captain Rachel Knutson says the performers really are a team – now.
“At first, everybody was really nervous,” said Knutson, a junior at Bonney Lake. “We really like having them on the team. They add a lot with their personality and different levels of experience.”
“Combining is a better choice than cutting,” said Nicole Cochran, a freshman team member from Sumner. “At least then we have a chance to do what we want to do.”
Staff writer Kris Sherman contributed to this report.
Debby Abe: 253-597-8694
debby.abe@thenewstribune.com
