Puyallup schools change plan to cut $15M. What does that mean for layoffs, pool?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- District restores pool, gymnastics and elementary library time after public pressure.
- Board offsets restorations by cutting roughly 80–95 positions districtwide.
- Final $15M reduction plan set; board to adopt budget after August hearing.
A pool, three gymnastics teams and librarian-led instructional time for most elementary school students have been spared from the Puyallup School District’s $15 million budget cuts.
But there is a trade-off: more positions on the chopping block.
During the March 13 school board study session, interim superintendent Richard Lasso presented the district’s final budget reduction plan, which includes $15 million in cuts for the 2026-2027 school year.
The district’s deficit is rooted in several factors, such as increased salary costs, lack of state funding and inflation on things like utilities and insurance, The News Tribune previously reported.
Sarah Gillispie, spokesperson for the school district, told The News Tribune on Tuesday that roughly 80 to 95 positions across the district will be eliminated or reduced – about 2% of the district’s 4,100 staff positions.
In its initial budget reductions at a school board meeting on Feb. 17, the district planned to close the Puyallup High School pool, eliminate its high school gymnastics teams and slash weekly, librarian-led instructional time for fourth, fifth and sixth graders.
The updated plan still cuts $15 million, but saves the pool, the gymnastics teams and library services for fourth and fifth graders. The district plans to compensate for these restorations by cutting more positions in the central office and schools.
Librarian instructional time will still be eliminated for sixth graders, Gillispie told The News Tribune.
The updated cuts came less than two weeks after residents filled the Kessler Center during the March 2 school board meeting to protest the cuts. Many commenters condemned the idea of closing the pool or getting rid of librarian instructional time for older elementary school students.
Feedback, Gillispie said, led to the budget changes.
“The original proposal was not a static proposal, our reductions evolved based on community feedback,” Gillispie said. “So, we heard the community clearly and you can see that that was reflected in meaningful changes to the final proposal.”
Gillispie said the trade-offs the district had to make in order to save these services were difficult.
“Every cut has an impact, there are no reductions at this level that are insignificant,” Gillispie said. “Every one of those decisions has an impact and we don’t take that lightly. We also realize that trade-offs were required with having to balance the need to balance our budget.”
Bob Horton, president of the Puyallup Education Association – the union that represents district employees – told The News Tribune on Monday that he is worried the updated cuts will still harm students, particularly the proposed staffing cuts in schools.
“Cuts should be furthest away from the classroom, they should not disrupt student learning,” Horton said. “They should not disrupt student learning and students’ educational experiences.”
What is being cut in this updated plan?
According to slides from Lasso’s presentation at the March 13 study session, the district increased its cuts for administrative positions in the central office.
In the original reductions, the district planned to cut 29 positions, with 7 of them being administrative. Now, according to the slides, there are 8 to 10 administrative positions on the chopping block. That means the district plans on cutting 30 to 32 total positions.
The central office cuts in both proposals include 12 teachers on special assignment, or TOSAs. Gillispie said a TOSA is a certificated teacher who takes on a specialized role, often working district-wide or in multiple schools.
Despite having “teacher” in the title, these 12 TOSAs are considered central office positions, Gillispie said, not school-based positions.
As for school-based cuts? Both proposals target 20 certificated, school-based staff positions, but in the updated recommendations, the district is now also targeting six Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) TOSAs at the junior high level.
These six TOSAs are considered school-based positions, Gillispie said, and are separate from the 12 TOSAs being eliminated in the central office.
In a follow-up email to The News Tribune, Gillispie said SEL TOSAs are “a specific type of TOSA focused on helping schools strengthen students’ skills in areas like emotional regulation, relationship-building, and responsible decision-making.”
There are also some dean and librarian positions that will still be cut, Gillispie said, but less so than in the original plan.
Here is an overview of the cuts:
- 8-10 administrative positions in the central office. This is an increase from seven administrative positions in the original plan. Lasso previously defined these positions as “district-level administrators with ‘Director’ or a ‘Superintendent’ in their title.”
- 4.5 exempt/professional-technical level positions in the central office.
- 5.5 executive/administrative assistant positions in the central office.
- 12 TOSAs in the central office. Lasso’s slides say these positions “could include instructional coaches, coordinators, teacher mentors, or educational specialists.”
- 4.5 elementary school dean positions. In its initial budget reductions, the district planned to eliminate deans district-wide, which would have slashed 10.5 positions. The updated cuts spare the junior high deans.
- 2.5 assistant principals.
- 2.8 librarians. This means the current number of librarians will decrease from 17.6 to 14.8.
- 20 school-based, certificated staff positions.
- 7 non-certificated positions in health services, though the district will add 2.5 certificated positions. Gillispie said these 2.5 positions will happen through current part-time nurses becoming full-time.
- 6 SEL TOSA positions at the junior high level.
- Eliminate library time for sixth graders. All elementary school students currently receive half an hour of librarian-led instructional time each week. In its initial plan, the district considered cutting this time for fourth, fifth and sixth graders. In these updated cuts, only sixth graders are impacted.
- Getting rid of routine overtime and split shifts for custodial staff. This proposal would also put custodians on an A/B cleaning schedule for secondary schools, which Gillispie preivously described as “rotating deeper cleaning tasks between buildings and zones on alternating days.” Gillispie said this would allow custodial staff to “maintain health and safety standards while operating with fewer staffing hours.”
The News Tribune asked Gillispie how many of the 20 certificated school-based staffing cuts would be teachers. Gillispie said the district is still figuring that out because they want to make the cuts through natural attrition when possible, which includes things like retirements, resignations and expiring contracts.
“I can’t identify the name of the positions for you right now because those numbers are still, those types of positions are still formalizing,” Gillispie said. “We’re going to adjust based on natural attritions and retirements first and then look at the remaining [staff] and the contractual obligations for the rest.”
In a previous interview with The News Tribune, Gillispie said it’s likely that at least some teachers will be included in the cuts.
“The current proposal estimates a reduction of approximately 20 certificated staff positions,” Gillispie said. “Now, since classroom teachers make up the majority of the almost 1,500 certificated staff, it is probable that at least some classroom teacher positions will be reduced.”
Certificated positions are roles that require a state-issued education certificate, Gillispie said, such as teachers, librarians and counselors.
The News Tribune asked Gillispie why the district decided to restore junior high dean positions but eliminate the six SEL TOSAs.
“In reviewing potential reductions and studying feedback, the district closely examined both dean and SEL TOSA roles as both support student behavior and well-being,” Gillispie wrote in an email. “The scope of what a dean can do is much more flexible than what an SEL TOSA can do. This is why, at the junior high level, the decision was made to preserve dean positions, while reducing SEL TOSA positions.”
The updated cuts equate to these estimated savings, Gillispie said:
- Central Office: $7.1 million to $7.3 million. This will either stay the same or slightly increase from the original plan’s savings of $7.1 million.
- School-based administration: $1.3 million. This is down $1 million from the $2.3 million in the original plan, and came with restoring the six junior high deans.
- Custodial services: $1.7 million. There is no change from the original plan.
- Libraries and Technology: $650,000. This is down $350,000 from $1 million in the original plan, which came with changing the 6.5 librarian cuts to 2.8.
- School-based staffing: $4.3 million. This is an increase of $1 million from $3.3 million in the original plan, which comes from cutting the six SEL TOSA positions.
Gillispie emphasized that the district tried to avoid making cuts to schools as much as they could. She said the district spends 85% of its spending on schools, which make up 52% of cuts. On the other hand, the district only spends 15% on the central office, yet central office positions make up 48% of the reductions.
“The central office is absorbing a larger scale relative to its size,” Gillispie said. “... These decisions were balanced decisions. They were not one-sided.”
Horton said the school cuts, especially the 20 certificated staff positions, will still be detrimental to students. In the original proposal, Horton said the union had 38.5 positions on the chopping block, and now the updated cuts have increased this to 40.8 positions.
“Keep the cuts away from the schools and don’t interrupt student learning,” Horton said. “Every time you cut an educator in the classroom, you are going to be increasing class sizes, which means that students aren’t going to get that individual attention they need to continue to learn.”
What has been saved from the original plan?
These updated budget recommendations save the Puyallup High School pool, which was at risk of permanent closure due to the cuts.
Closing the pool would have saved the district $300,000, Gillispie said, which they made up for in other cuts – but she also said the pool is “essentially operating on borrowed time.”
“It is open to the public, but we will need to spend $4.4 million on a dehumidification system,” Gillispie said. “In addition to that, $4.5 million is projected in repairs for the pool over the next 6-10 years. We are currently trying to determine how to fund and plan for those repairs.”
If the pool had closed as a result of the budget cuts, the Puyallup High School swim team would have used the pool at Rogers High School. Gillispie previously told The News Tribune the district was not planning to provide transportation for Puyallup High School swim students to get to Rogers High School.
At the March 2 school board meeting, the pool closure was a recurring theme. Out of the 17 people who spoke during public comment against the cuts, five advocated for keeping the pool open, citing safety, access and equity concerns.
Allison Snyder, a student at Rogers High School who is on the swim and water polo teams, said at the meeting shutting down the Puyallup High School pool would cause extra strain on the pool at Rogers High School, with several teams competing for practice time.
“How does it make sense to close a pool that gets so much use and then put all of that strain in one spot?” Snyder asked.
Another recurring theme at the meeting was the district’s original plan of cutting weekly library instructional time for fourth, fifth and sixth graders. Out of the 17 people who spoke, six addressed the lack of library access as an issue.
“Without a certified librarian to guide and recommend and connect and inspire, students will simply not find books that they don’t know exist,” Laurie Vitt, a librarian at Firgrove Elementary School, said at the meeting. “Books don’t sell themselves. Sending a child to the library alone is like sending a child to go to the grocery store to get dinner. They will come out holding Doritos.”
Gillispie said the district made the decision to restore library access to all elementary school students except sixth graders, specifically in response to the feedback they got.
“With regards to library services, we even received letters from elementary students about their libraries, and that mattered in our decision-making,” Gillispie said. “So, we reprioritized.”
High school gymnastics teams were also spared, Gillispie said. The original plan cited $60,000 in savings from slashing the teams and selling the equipment, which the district made up for in other cuts.
Why are these cuts happening?
Gillispie previously told The News Tribune there are several reasons for the district’s $15 million deficit:
- Increased cost of salaries and benefits.
- The increased cost of health insurance.
- Inflationary increases on utilities, supplies and services. These include things like gas for buses and power to keep the lights on.
Gillispie also said the deficit is rooted in structural problems at the state level, echoing concerns from district leaders across the state who say funding from Olympia has not kept up with the increasing cost of operating schools.
To put these $15 million cuts into perspective: the district’s forecasted total revenue for the 2026-2027 school year is about $453 million, according to slides from Lasso’s presentation at the March 13 study session.
- Total expenditures before the cuts: $468 million
- Total expenditures after the cuts: $453 million, equivalent to total revenues.
During the 2023-2024 school year, the district received about 75% of its funding from the state, about 17% from local funds, about 6.8% from federal funds and the rest from other entities.
Voters renewed the district’s Educational Programs & Operations Levy during the Feb. 10 special election, which imposes a $2.50 tax per $1,000 of assessed property value – meaning a $500,000 home would pay about $1,250 per year. The levy will be in effect for four years.
Gillispie previously told The News Tribune the levy makes up 16% of the district’s general fund, which means it provides critical support but does not reduce the need for cuts.
“The levy does provide important stability and includes the potential for modest growth in revenue starting in 2027, so the levy will help us cover some rising costs,” Gillispie previously told The News Tribune. “But not enough to fully close the gap between what we spend and what we receive each year.”
What are the district’s next steps?
Gillispie said these updated cuts encompass the district’s final reduction plan.
“The Board has already taken action to direct the development of a Budget Restoration Plan and has been receiving updates throughout the process,” Gillispie wrote in an email. “The next formal action will occur in August, when the Board holds a public hearing and adopts the official 2026–27 budget.”
In a Tuesday post on its website, the district said its next steps are to communicate with staff impacted by the cuts.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a bullet point about routine overtime and split shifts for custodial staff.
This story was originally published March 18, 2026 at 1:40 PM.
