It was a packed house at the Cheney School Board’s Nov. 14 meeting as they unanimously approved the district’s 2019 legislative priorities and discussed its ongoing boundary review.
Summed up, the district’s requests center around the Legislature funding the actual costs of education. The state currently allocates about $230 per square foot for school construction, a number that Cheney contractors say is only about 64 percent of the actual cost.
Cheney officials also argue that the special education funding they receive, based off of a specific formula, with a cap of 13.5 percent of the resident K-12 full–time enrollment, is not sufficient and that the multiplier should be increased to cover “real costs.”
“We’ll be asking the Legislature to fund special education to the level it actually costs,” Superintendent Rob Roettger said.
The district is asking that the Legislature advance a constitutional amendment that would reduce the 60 percent threshold for approval of school bond issues, and called it “imperative” that the Legislature fully fund the cost of implementing the School Employee Benefits Board, which could cost the Cheney School District up to $820,000.
The district also requested additional funding toward school safety and security, which would allow them to hire mental health providers, counselors and school resource officers and add resources that support high-risk students who have been suspended or expelled.
Roettger updated the board on the online survey recently sent out to community members to weigh in on the district’s boundary review. Nearly 400 individuals had participated, leaving about 250 comments and more than 8,478 “stars” where users marked whether they agreed or disagreed with posted comments.
The district has also approached the superintendent of the Great Northern School District, north of Airway Heights, to discuss the possibility of altering district boundaries, Roettger said. Airway Heights is currently building a recreation center on Deno Road, and in the past it’s been suggested that some of that area may become available for potential school sites.
Until now, the district’s first response has been that the area isn’t technically within the Cheney district, as some of the land falls within the purview of the Great Northern School District. Given recent developments, the two districts may decide to consider reworking those boundaries.
The Cheney School District is also working with the cities of Cheney and Airway Heights to analyze where growth is occurring and where housing will be going up in the near future.
The boundary review will hopefully come before the board by the end of January or early February to give schools time to make any necessary transitions, Roettger said.
In other news, the board unanimously approved the Highly Capable Program, which ensures students are participating in courses that challenge them academically. It also heard several first readings of proposed policy revisions. The revisions are primarily language changes that would modernize policies last updated in 1999.
The meeting was attended by students and parents from Sunset Elementary, with the former showing the board videos of their work for the Sunset Penny Drive benefitting Airway Heights’ Cleone’s Closet. Also in the audience was an education class of aspiring teachers from Eastern Washington University.
Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected].
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