The Renton School District is expecting to fill a $6.1 million gap next year, which could mean about 35 teachers and staff could be laid off.
“The difficulty is that we’ve already made cuts over the years that are pretty significant,” said Rich Moore, assistant superintendent of business. “There is no easy cut anymore.”
The projection is based on Gov. Christine Gregoire’s budget proposal, which is historically more optimistic than the final budget handed down, Moore said. “The governor’s budget for many years was the high watermark.”
State legislators are expecting an about $2.6 billion revenue shortfall next year.
The Senate and the House won’t have the finalized budget until the end of their legislative session, scheduled to end March 11.
“I’m hopeful that if they end on time, we’ll have a budget close to the end of March,” Moore said.
Public meetings on the Renton School District 2010-2011 budget.
7 p.m., Feb. 23, Hazen High School
7 p.m. Feb. 25, Lindbergh High School
7 p.m., March 1, Renton High School
The deepest cut is the complete removal of funds for the K-4 staffing ratio. If the state approves the cut, two or three staff members in each of Renton’s elementary schools could be laid off.
The state has a history of providing money for programs and then removing money once the programs have started, said school board director Al Talley.
“The human element, they couldn’t care less about,” he said of the state.
Two years ago the state government provided the district with about $5.8 million through Initiative 728, which reduced classroom sizes by adding staff, Moore said.
Since then, it has been cut twice, this year to about $1.3 million. Last year the district made up for the difference by not renewing one-year contracted teachers.
“The reality is, people lost their jobs,” Moore said.
Next year, Gregoire proposes cutting all of the I-728 funding.
The budget reductions are too big to avoid teacher cuts, Moore said.
Under Gregoire’s proposal, all of the district’s full-day kindergarten classes will also be cut, which makes up some of the projected teacher layoffs.
School districts throughout the state are still hopeful that the K-4 staffing ratio cut will be restored through the budget process, Moore said. “There will be quite a bit of discussion to whether there are opportunities to restore those items.”
Gregoire’s cuts make up about $4.2 million of the district’s budget gap.
In addition to the cuts, the district is faced with additional costs, including inflation, a 1 percent district-wide pay increase and the $1 million opening of Honeydew Elementary.
The increase of costs combined with the revenue shortfall brings the district to the about $6.1 million gap.
It could be another three years before the district sees anymore money, Moore said.
Other budget reductions from the governor’s proposal include a 100 percent cut for the Highly Capable program, Learning Improvement Days, Middle School Vocational program and the suspension of I-732, which deals with teacher and staff salary increases.
Although Gregoire is removing money for these programs, it’s up to the district to decide whether to cut the programs or cut elsewhere.
“I think it (cuts) will ripple through the system,” Moore said. “Everything is going to be under review.”
Although most the cuts were aimed at elementary programs, the district’s middle and high schools will likely see some reductions.
The district will be gathering public input through the budget development process. A public survey will soon be posted online.
Moore also scheduled three public meetings to gather input on what programs to save and what to cut, he said.
“They’re not the choices you want to make, but that you have to make,” he said.
