Principals in Seattle Public Schools have to turn in their budgets today for next school year. And it’s not likely that any of them will provide a rosy picture, since the district is dealing with an eight-digit shortfall. Just one example: Chief Sealth High School principal John Boyd called a meeting this week to let Sealth families know what was ahead for their school, since his budget falls $634,000 short of what is needed, as he put it in a conversation with us this afternoon, “to fully staff the building the way it’s staffed now.” We are working to find out what’s happening at other West Seattle public schools, but for starters, read on to see what else we heard from Boyd – and the PTSA’s separate call for a show of statewide concern:
This past Monday, Boyd said, he had to break the news to the individual employees who — unless something changes dramatically — will not have jobs next year.
Talking with WSB this afternoon, he called it a “perfect storm” involving various factors – Enrollment dropped with the move to the temporary building this year (district “demographic reports” say CSHS enrollment was 919 last year and 887 this year), and that left Sealth somewhat overstaffed. Then, the district financial shortfall; and, some “special grant money is no longer available.”
End result: 10 positions must be cut at Sealth, “about half teaching, half support,” Boyd explained.
He stresses that “we can make these cuts and still offer the full program,” while adding, “If we had to do this two years in a row, I might not say that.”
He’s had to cut a few people before, “but never 10 people,” describing that as “cut(ting) into the meat and bone a little bit.”
Some electives, business classes and art classes will not be offered as a result; drama will be an afterschool program instead of being offered during the day, when these cuts take effect in the fall, although Boyd says there’s a glimmer of hope: “We’re hoping some new monies become available through the (federal) stimulus plan.” And he stresses Sealth is far from alone: “The state is woefully short; I’m told that percentagewise, we may have deeper fiscal issues than California. And in Oregon, they’re looking at shortening the school year.”
We asked about Proyecto Saber, the subject of an impassioned plea at last week’s School Board meeting; Boyd says part of its funding comes from the district and part from CSHS, and it’s not being cut at Sealth.
Before concluding our conversation, we asked what more he thinks people should know about the situation: “Just to reiterate, these are painful cuts for people, (but) we were overstaffed .. we know it’s going to impact us some, class sizes will go up some, we’re going to have to pack our classes a bit more, everybody will be in that stuation … but we really will be able to run our full program.” That includes the growing International Baccalaureate (IB) program, although he says it may lose “one or two electives.”
After individual schools submit their budgets today, a few weeks of district number-crunching should reveal the final picture about what lies ahead for next school year. And a reminder that it’s not just a local-level issue comes from the Sealth PTSA, which has sent out an online-petition link from the statewide PTA, including this preface:
Next week, state lawmakers will release a budget proposal that will make cuts in our public education system in order to close a historic budget shortfall. Kids in our public schools will feel the real impacts of these cuts. Our lawmakers need to know that we are paying attention and will hold them responsible for investing in our children’s future. Please sign the online version of the Washington Kids Can’t Wait Petition to help us pass 10,000 signatures by Friday, April 3rd. The petition asks lawmakers to: protect funding for Washington’s children and schools and redefine basic education to pay for what our children need to succeed in college, job training, work and life. (This petition is endorsed by the Washington State PTA.)
The petition can be found here.
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