Uncertain state funding leads to creation of “worst case” scenario, including layoffs
By RYAN LANCASTER
Staff Reporter
The Medical Lake School District announced a financial emergency last week, citing uncertain state funding that makes it impossible to set accurate budget and hiring levels for next school year.
At the March 22 school board meeting Superintendent Pam Veltri said state funding estimates are needed to prepare school budgets this summer and that it would be a “dereliction of duty” for legislators to adjourn their regular session without finding a state budget solution. She also expressed concern that legislators might not release their final budget until after the next revenue forecast in June.
“They've been elected and paid to do a job, and to leave and not come back is unconscionable,” she told the board. “I'm hoping people will be upset enough about this that they will contact their legislators and tell them they need to do their job.”
The Mead School District board of directors also passed a resolution declaring a “financial emergency and budget uncertainty” this month and Veltri said conversations with fellow school superintendents indicate other districts will follow suit.
Medical Lake is currently developing “a best-case and a worst-case scenario” to prepare for whatever the Legislature ultimately does. Because state law dictates that school districts must issue “reduction in force” notifications by May 15, any worst-case picture is sure to include some number of layoffs, although Veltri said specifics are still being weighed.
By the end of April the district must complete negotiations on a three-year teaching contract with the Medical Lake Education Association, although talks are unlikely to be significantly affected by the fiscal emergency according to association president Ryan Grant. He said the teacher's union understands the difficult position faced by the district and is not requesting any high dollar items in the contract.
“I despise the situation the state has put the district in,” he said. “The hope is that if we do have layoffs the Legislature can get their act together and (those laid off) could be called back.”
State lawmakers are not only struggling to work around a $5.1 billion revenue shortfall for the 2011-13 budget cycle, they must also mend a $201 million funding gap for this biennium. How that will affect Medical Lake is uncertain, but a 6.3 percent cut handed down from Gov. Chris Gregoire last September resulted in $115,660 less for the current school year and her recommended budget could chop about $400,000 out of next year. A special session in December also eliminated $503,095 that the district was planning on but will not receive, leading Medical Lake to take $348,500 from a “rainy day” fund to finance the current year.
Washington has cut public schools funding by $1.9 billion in the last biennium but because the state constitution mandates basic education funding these reductions are confined to a few critical areas that can be manipulated. One is levy equalization, which is routinely threatened with cuts but may be especially vulnerable this year. For Medical Lake, which is a “property-poor” district, its loss would mean almost $1.6 million less funding next school year – the equivalent of about 20 teacher positions, according to Grant.
Last week Veltri earned applause from the small audience of school administrators and teachers when she discussed the intent of the emergency declaration.
“This is a statement to put the Legislature on notice that what they're doing to schools is really unfair,” she said. “It's not fair what they're doing to teachers. They need to do their job and have a budget done by the time their session ends the day before Easter.”
Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].
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