By Ramona Hattendorf, Government relations coordinator
$1.7 billion in cuts put districts in a tough spot
- More than $1 billion cut from direct instructional support
- Continued operational improvement on hold
- Cuts to salaries have to be negotiated
Our public schools have a tough road ahead. The budget just passed by the legislature continued significant cuts made earlier this year when expected revenue came up short. Gone are the student achievement fund (about $900 million) as well as money that funded smaller K-3 class sizes (about $200 million). This means kids lose access to extended learning time like summer school and after-school tutoring, early learning and all-day kindergarten. And yes, classes will be much more crowded.
State funding for early learning and kindergarten was preserved – that’s good news. But those funds only reach a small percentage of children, and many districts used their achievement funds (I-728) to expand those important programs and to give more students access to help. The legislature did budget for slightly smaller K-3 classes (1 student less) at high-poverty schools.
Most of these cuts were expected, but that doesn’t mean they hurt any less. Not expected was failure to get operational policy improvements through – they had broad support and were extremely low or no cost – but they got caught up in politics around changing layoff policies. They would have helped make better use of extremely limited funds.
Also not expected were cuts to K-12 “general apportionment” (this is a pool of money that pays for “basic education.”) The legislature opted to pay in less money for salaries, leaving districts with another $179 million to deal with. Many in the media reported teachers and support staff are taking 1.9 percent pay cuts, and administrators 3 percent cuts. School staff are district employees, though, and their salaries are set by locally negotiated contracts. Each of the 295 school district will have to decide whether to reopen and renegotiate contracts, cut from programs, or do a combination.
Education is no doubt the number one priority of our state government.
ReplyDeleteBut education spending doesn't equal education results.
The teachers unions are the problem.
Get rid of the union, hire and fire teachers based upon merit, and education will flourish.
Whatever. Teacher unions are not the problem - look at all the high scoring countries like Finland, Norway, and Sweden. They all have very strong teacher unions. They also have much more early intervention, fewer kids living in poverty, a more homogenous population, and medical care available for all. Rather than bashing one group of workers and repeating right-wing talking points that have no basis in fact (merit-pay has been done before and was abolished because there were no positive results on student learning), try looking at our society as a whole to see what is wrong with education.
ReplyDeleteThe school district just got their levy last year and a bond for construction, stating that your taxes would not go up, but they did. Now they want more of your property taxes. They should have seen this coming - either you have shiny new buildings with no staff for them. Good planning.
ReplyDeleteOH GOODY!! HERE COME THE "Shiny new Building Bashers"...how predictable..
ReplyDeleteI love the comparison,
"Shiny new Buildings" ~or~ "Staff to go in them"..
Nothing like confusing the issues.
It actually sounds like you think that if Shoreline Voters had not voted for the "Shiny New Buildings" the WA STATE LEG. wouldn't have just cut funding.
Hmmm...that doesn't seem to make sense to me.
Please make sure in your rebuttal you enlighten me with your descriptions of:
- The EVIL School Board
- The EVIL Supt.
- The grossly misled public who disregards history in favor of "shiny new things".
Actually @11:17 pm, I don't know what history what you are talking about. I do know that the Yes on Shoreline Schools and the school district pitched the bond & levy clearly as stating that your taxes would not go up and they did - and now they are coming back for another property tax increase. There is still a recession going on, hundreds of houses in foreclosure in Shoreline, declining enrollment, and you think that the average property owner should keep on feeding the beast?
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to blame the unions, it's not their fault, but people are hurting -- now is not the time to add more taxes. The city just got a new property tax this year as well.
Let's start by cutting management salaries, that would be a nice first step.