The San Juan Island School Board has voted to issue notice to employees that the district expects to eliminate six positions in the 2009-10 school year.
The board made the vote Tuesday, anticipating a $1 million budget shortfall because of expected reductions in the state education budget. Though the state budget reductions will not be known until the legislative session concludes April 26, state law and teachers’ union contracts require that districts provide anticipated reduction-in-force notices to affected employees by May 1.
“Approximately half of the six position reductions can be realized through leaves and retirements, hence the RIF resolution is for slightly more than three teaching positions,” Superintendent Michael Soltman said in a statement issued to the press a day after the meeting.
The school board also directed administrators to move sixth-grade program to the elementary school, and to return to a six-period, two-semester schedule at the high school without a winter term.
The school district budget woes began during the 2007-08 school year, when enrollment declines and a shortfall in legislative funding for state voter-mandated pay increases for teachers resulted in a decrease in $717,000 in revenue for 2008-09. The community raised $600,000 to stave off any reductions in personnel and services.
But cuts in personnel and services became a likely reality this week as the Legislature, staring down $9 billion of debt, proposed this week, proposed $4 billion in cuts to schools, higher education, social services and health care.
Some $3 billion in federal stimulus money helped stanch the blood flow, but some of that money is earmarked for specific services. San Juan Island School District, for example, will get $233,000 in federal stimulus money but much of that is intended for special education.
The school board has already proposed eliminating funding for sports; Island Rec may propose a property tax levy of 4 to 5 cents per $1,000 of assessed property valuation to fund school sports. If approved by voters in November, it would take effect as a school district bond levy of 40 to 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation expires. Island Rec would contract to be the funding vehicle for school sports; the school district would continue to operate the school sports program.
Proposed state reductions prompting cuts
The district’s Financial Task Force has been analyzing budget and enrollment information since August and had targeted budget reductions in the $750,000 to $1.1 million range over the next two fiscal years. Various scenarios — reduce administration, non-instructional services and instructional programs, as well as restructure the middle and high school programs — have been presented to and discussed by the school board since November.
Previously, at the March 4 school board meeting when the projected deficit was $782,000, the school board had decided to keep grades 6-8 in middle school for the 2009-10 school year. However, the board also directed the administration to plan for sixth-grade restructuring – moving it to elementary school — in order to be prepared to respond to more severe reductions in the state education budget.
School administrators are now creating program schedules, with reduced staffing, for grades 7-8 and 9-12. In addition, the district will also not hire a new middle school principal when Ann Spratt retires.
Upcoming meetings
A regular school board meeting is scheduled April 29, 6 p.m. in the high school library. State budget information will be discussed, if available, and more detailed program restructuring implications will be shared with the board.
A special school board meeting is scheduled May 5, 6 p.m. in the high school library. The special meeting will be held to analyze the final state education budget, to make any adjustments to the final reduction-in-force plan due May 15, and to detail additional budget planning steps through June.
A fifth-grade parent meeting is scheduled May 7 to discuss the sixth-grade program planning as well as to hear concerns, ideas and questions from parents.
— Here’s what other news sources are reporting about the state education funding:
