Vancouver Public School officials announced recommended budget cuts for the 2019-2020 school year at a school board meeting Tuesday night.
The cuts are being discussed to address an $11.44 million budget shortfall forecast for the school year, which district officials say is at least partially due to $7.2 million in costs from the contract agreement with the Vancouver Education Association after this past summer’s strike, and $2.1 million reflecting the district’s offer to the Vancouver Association of Educational Support Professionals. The support professionals union voted Tuesday night to go on strike effective Friday if a deal isn’t reached.
The budget cuts won’t become official until the board votes on its 2019-2020 budget, which will take place later this year. Superintendent Steve Webb said the district will have to find a way to balance the budget unless there is a change in revenue projections or the state Legislature passes a “solution” to the McCleary legislation. The state Supreme Court ruled the state was failing to fully fund basic education, and poured $7.3 billion in new funding for schools to be spread over four years, followed by another $1 billion in 2018 for teacher salaries. The new money led to a wave of teacher strikes around the state this past summer.
“Our elected leaders in Olympia legislated flawed public policy in response to the Supreme Court’s McCleary order,” Webb said. “The challenges in front of (Vancouver Public Schools) are not unique or unexpected.”
The recommended cuts announced Tuesday would come from the district’s central administrative services. They include:
• Five district-level administrative positions.
• Fifteen teacher-on-special-assignment positions providing instruction and classroom support for curriculum and instructional technology.
• Five percent cut to central office and support service hourly staff positions, and materials, supplies and operating costs in 2019-2020.
“Every eliminated position is a valued employee,” Webb said.
The five administrative positions in the proposed cuts are the assistant superintendent and chief academic officer, the executive director of teaching and learning, the director of innovation and library services, director of family engagement and Family-Community Resource Centers and manager of safe and supportive schools. The 15 teachers on special assignment included in the cuts could be put back in the classroom full-time. The teacher-on-special-assignment positions allow teachers to instruct and help lead other teachers.
Some of those positions are open at the moment and won’t be filled, according to Pat Nuzzo, spokeswoman for the district. Earlier this month, the school board voted to stop hiring for positions that are “non-mission critical” and freeze spending on materials, supplies, travel and operating costs to deal with the deficit.
Mark Stoker, vice president of the school board, said the recommended cuts are a “responsible approach.”
“These are the farthest positions away from the classroom,” he said, adding that the board and district officials don’t want to have cut programs.
The central administrative service reductions are expected to save about $3.9 million, one-third of the district’s plan to deal with the $11.44 million shortfall. The other plans call for the district to save $1.5 million in spending for the remainder of this school year and take $2.25 million from the 2019-2020 fund balance to bring in roughly $3.75 million. That part of the shortfall will have to be addressed again in the 2020-2021 budget. The rest of the shortfall could be made up with an estimated $3.79 million in school-based reductions that have not been determined yet.
Both Webb and Board President Rosemary Fryer urged those in attendance to reach out to their local elected officials.
“They need to hear what their policies do,” Fryer said.
Webb agreed, saying the McCleary decision has created issues throughout the state.
“Continue to put the pressure where the pressure belongs,” he said. “That’s in Olympia.”
