Vancouver school budget options take shape

• Vancouver: The final advisory committee meeting is 5 to 6:30 p.m. March 23 at the Jim Parsley Administrative Services Center (Board Conference Room), 2901 N.E. Falk Road, next to Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School.

Anyone interested is welcome to observe — there were all of two guests on Wednesday — but public testimony will not be taken.

For updates: http://www.vansd.org/budget_facts.

• Evergreen: Public forums will be held 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the school auditoriums: March 23 at Union High School, 6201 Friberg-Strunk Road; March 31 at Heritage High School, 7825 N.E. 130th Ave.

Evergreen will host a live cable TV-Internet webcast from 6 to 7 p.m. March 16 with Superintendent John Deeder and Chief Operating Officer Mike Merlino.

For updates: http://www.evergreenps.org/ (see “District News”)

Cost-saving targets have emerged from a 10-member citizens budget advisory committee for Vancouver Public Schools, nearing completion of its mission.

And, several of those targets look a lot like those floated by the neighboring Evergreen school district, despite a far different approach taken by this panel.

They range from the mundane to the momentous:

o Consolidate school bus routes, and have more students walk.

o Scale back sports and other extra-curricular programs.

o Return leased portable classrooms, cut back on maintenance, suspend teacher professional development and pursue fee hikes and more contracted services.

o Reduce or eliminate school librarians, and send instruction (teacher) coaches — in VPS jargon, Teachers on Special Assignment — back to their own classrooms.

o Cut more administration and support staff, and costs.

o Reduce classroom teacher numbers by adopting larger class sizes, up to the state-set and bargained maximum, at least in grades six through 12.

Three additional steps particular to Vancouver:

o Seek temporary, 1 to 2 percent wage or contract concessions from all employee groups.

o Temporary closure of the Propstra Aquatic Center and/or Jim Parsley Community Center swimming pool.

o Explore closure and/or merger of low-enrollment grade schools and the Vancouver Early Childhood Center and other potential changes at the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics.

Grim task

On Wednesday, the advisory panel held the sixth of seven scheduled meetings before giving final recommendations on how to slice millions of dollars from the district’s annual budget, now at $213 million.

The committee’s last session comes March 23. Soon after, it will hand a list of “solutions to consider” to Superintendent Steve Webb.

The VPS school board is expected to adopt a final budget plan on May 10, by which time state legislators are presumed to have set state funding levels.

In light of expected sharp state reductions, plus the end of federal stimulus aid, the panel’s target amount has quickly evolved from a $16 million “worst-case” scenario to more than $25 million in options posed.

It’s probably wise, given rampant speculation in Olympia that next week’s state revenue forecast will tack another $500 million to $2 billion to a roughly $5 billion, two-year state deficit.

Starting points

With Elson Strahan as chairman, the Vancouver advisory group has yet to carve priorities or tote up exact dollar savings. That differs from the path taken by an Evergreen budget panel made up of school parents and district employees, which ranked 45 items and specific dollars for each, totaling $27 million.

Rather, the VPS committee that includes a few business and civic leaders has roughed out six broad categories.

They are: personnel reductions, teachers included (estimated top savings, $16 million); temporary labor concessions ($2.4 million); program or service elimination ($3.5 million); belt-tightening and efficiencies ($3 million); contracted services ($100,000); and possible fee and other revenue hikes ($275,000).

This month’s final meeting will be used to tease out priorities. So far, items in the separate categories are not weighed against each other, a draft group narrative explains.

But, early consensus shows where district officials will be told to look first: Staff reductions, plus the wage-and-benefits concessions; closing one or both pools and trimming after-school programs at elementary and middle schools; reduced daily bus service, a new busing fee for magnet students and increased meal cost (by 5-10 cents); and teaming with Educational Service District 112 to share support services.

Howard Buck: 360-735-4515 or howard.buck@columbian.com.