Kent schools brace after dire state budget report

After months of planning based on projections from the governor’s budget, school districts across the state, including Kent, got their first look this week at budget proposals from the House of Representatives and the Senate.

And the new numbers are not encouraging.

“Both the House and Senate budgets are far worse than the governor’s budget,” said Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Fred High.

With a state budget shortfall projected to be nearing $9 billion, from the start cuts were expected at all levels of service. However, there was some hope that cuts in education would not be as deep as those in the governor’s budget from December.

However, the budget gap has only increased since then, creating a situation that district officials said is even more dire than originally expected.

“We’re at a higher risk than we were before,” High said.

High said the district had not yet performed a full analysis of the proposals, though new projections would be available before the April 22 board meeting.

Total cuts to state education spending are reportedly $625 million in the House budget, compared to an $877 million cut in the Senate budget.

The Kent School District has been planning for its own budget gap for several months. Due to reductions in state funding, an attempt to balance expenditures with revenues and an expected increase to make teacher salaries more competitive with surrounding districts, Kent has created a prioritized list of potential cuts totaling more $15 million.

The deeper-than-expected cuts may mean the district has to slice deeper into the proposed list than hoped. All told, the proposed cut list includes a force reduction of 90 teachers, 14 administrators and 35 classified staff members.

High said there was still some question over the use of federal stimulus money which is headed to the state and then out to individual districts.

“We’re still trying to figure it out,” he said of the stimulus funds.

High said so far there is no clear picture of what the money can and can’t be used for and said the reduction in state money is not necessarily made up by the stimulus funding, which will have more restrictions on its spending.

“It’s not an even trade,” he said.

According to High, the biggest proposed cuts come in the form of I-728 money, which helps reduce class sizes by providing funding for more teachers.

“A lot of that money goes to basic education,” High said.

High said much of the stimulus money will come through Title I spending, which is much more restrictive in its use than I-728 money.

“Stimulus funds, while welcome, aren’t likely going to be in the places the state is funding,” he said. “It’s not always a good match.”

High said the district, which is on spring break this week, will continue to work on the numbers and will be continue with plans that are already in place, including the possibility of notifying staff of possible reductions in force, the latest day to do which is May 15, according to the contract with teachers.

For a full list of potential reductions in the Kent School District visit http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/ksd/cr/03_26_09_BudgetReductions.html

To see all three of the proposed 2009-2011 biennium budgets visit http://leap.leg.wa.gov/leap/budget/detail/proposals.asp

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