Budget News #5

Budget News #5 As expected, we continued to receive news almost daily through last week on additional state budget changes. On Friday, the Governor announced that there would be no special session – which actually meant a bit of good news for our local budget. We have continued to refine the budget priorities and talk with each of the employee bargaining groups about what the district is doing and what we might do together to best address budget issues. I am most appreciative that each employee group has expressed interest and willingness in working to help soften some of the budget impacts. At present, the reductions needed in basic education fall between $2.3 million and $2.7 million; in the same range we have been discussing. Overall district cuts involving special programs as well as BEA will total closer to $8 million.

The current budget plan continues to be:  May 11: Outline A, B, and C priorities for potential budget reductions (Board Work Study) 

May 12: RIF notices distributed to certificated staff

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May 13: Staff budget presentation, 3:00 pm/Cedarcrest Commons

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May 13: Community and staff budget presentation, 6:00 pm/Board Room

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May 18: Community and staff public forum, 6:30 pm/Board Room

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May 19: Staff budget presentation, 2:30 pm/M-PHS Library

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May 21: Staff budget presentation, 3:30 pm/Quil Ceda Library

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May 26: Board Work Study Session, 6:30 pm/Board Room

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June 1: Preliminary budget approval

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June 2: Limited recall of RIF’d teachers begins

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June 16: Target date for notifying any classified staff that will be RIF’d

As noted above, there are multiple opportunities to become informed about the budget, and/or to give input. If you are unable to make any of the above meetings, public input can also be offered through Superintendents_Office @msvl.k12.wa.us. These are difficult times for all of us in education and throughout our State and Nation. I appreciate the patience and the understanding by staff and parents as we seek to make the best of a difficult situation; balancing the concerns of the adults with the needs of the students and assuring tax payers that we are doing our best to present a sound educational plan that supports student learning.

- Larry

5/11/2009

Changes/clarifications: RIFs: Although the board approved up to 81 RIFs (Reductions in Force) for teaching staff, it is expected that the actual number of RIF notices will be closer to 50 FTE. The current information regarding RIFs is as follows: Administrative 3.2 Elementary K-5 26.1 Secondary (6-12) 23.1 Art 1.0 Block 1.5 English/LA 5.0 Health 4.0 Music 0.0 (See below) P.E. 3.0 Science 2.0 Soc. Studies 5.0 World Lang. 1.6 (1.0 German and 0.6 Japanese) The numbers above may be reduced to 45 or less following preliminary board approval on June 1st. Resignations and / or leaves of absence may further reduce that number. We currently have about a dozen resignations/leaves. Music: The initial RIF Resolution identified up to four music positions for potential RIFs (one per secondary building). There will be no reductions in music at the high school. Middle school music may be reduced by up to 0.4 FTE. There will be no RIFs or bumping due to music reductions. Electives: State funding cuts (728) together with reduced district wide enrollment, have had a major impact at the high school level. As the list above shows, nearly every area has been substantially reduced. Electives are (art, world languages) are being reduced as are core academics like Language Arts and Social Studies. World Languages: World languages are still being reduced due to shrinking state funds, shrinking enrollment in all courses, and decreased student interest in German and Japanese. German is being discontinued. Japanese is reduced to 0.4 FTE (two periods). Getchell Set Aside: The board has expressed interest in postponing (for one year) the amount of Getchell set aside for opening the new high school. This would come as a result of phasing in Getchell varsity sports during the 2011 year. This reduces the amount of funding for textbooks but still provides funding for the Phase I replacement of high school math texts. SLC Crossovers: Changes will be implemented for next year (2009 – 2010) to allow for greater crossovers: a) Jazz band, symphonic band, and wind ensemble (by audition) will be open to all M-P students. b) Men’s choir, women’s choir and chamber choir (by audition) will be open to all M-P students. c) All AP classes in the smaller SLCs will be open to students in all of the smaller SLCs. 5/11/2009