May 17, 2010 in City

Schools’ budget reality strikes hard

No option is off the table as districts struggle to overcome deficits in the coming year

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Kathy Plonka photo

Kellogg High School junior Lacey Hojem watches the action during a 3A District I-II softball game against Orofino at Timberlake High School in Spirit Lake on Friday. The Kellogg Joint School District, which has declared a financial emergency, will close its alternative school, implement layoffs of staff and faculty, and eliminate softball, baseball, soccer, wrestling, cross-country and cheerleading.
(Full-size photo)

Consecutive years of belt-tightening are leaving Inland Northwest school districts with fewer notches available to further cinch up their spending.

Temporary federal funds for education in the 2009-’11 biennium helped prevent the most drastic cuts during the current school year, but continued weakness in the economy has forced state officials to further slash budgets for 2010-’11.

Nothing will go untouched, school officials throughout the region say: There are plans to increase school fees or implement new ones; eliminate or reduce athletic programs; leave district positions vacant or hand out pink slips; and, in Idaho, reduce salaries and benefits.

Kellogg hit especially hard

At least 20 school districts out of Idaho’s 115 have declared financial emergencies, including Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and Kellogg.

The declaration means districts can reopen wage and benefit negotiations with the employee unions.

“There will be a reduction in salary and benefits for nearly everybody, which is the main way we are going to be able to reduce the budget gap,” said Post Falls Superintendent Jerry Keane.

Additionally, the Kellogg Joint School District will lay off staff and faculty, close the alternative high school, and eliminate softball, baseball, soccer, wrestling, cross-country and cheerleading at the high school.

Several middle school sports also are being eliminated, as well as all-day kindergarten.

So far, other districts have been able to avoid eliminating sports and extracurricular activities or closing student facilities.

Kellogg’s cutbacks are a result of a drop in state funding as well as a failed supplemental levy in March.

“People kept saying they didn’t want a tax increase,” said Terry Rinaldi, the district’s business manager.

The situation would have been even worse had voters not approved a replacement levy for the current levy on April 27, officials said.

District officials devised cuts totaling about $778,000 from an overall $17 million budget by using results from a community survey. Another $49,615 still needs to be trimmed.

“We’ve had to cut the sports and extracurricular activities, and that’s hard for the students. For some it keeps them in school and their grades up,” Rinaldi said. “The thing that upset me the most was the kindergarten stuff. It was such a plus for our students.”

Everything reduced in Post Falls

After cutting $1.2 million this school year, Post Falls is faced with reducing its budget by another $2.1 million in 2010-’11.

The Idaho district has been able to escape major cuts, compared with its neighboring districts, because of steady growth during the last 17 years. But the most recent state deficit hit hard.

“No department, no program will go untouched,” said Keane, the superintendent. “There will be reductions across the board.

“No programs will be completely eliminated, but nearly everything will be reduced,” he said, referring to sports and extracurricular activities.

“We believe we will be able to salvage jobs,” Keane said.

The district avoided layoffs in 2009-’10, but eight positions were allowed to go dark.

New fees eyed in CdA

In the Coeur d’Alene School District, there’s less money for materials, supplies and equipment. Transportation and Associated Student Body fees will go up, and athletes will compete in fewer games. There will be no state funding for school field trips.

Superintendent Hazel Bauman said all the changes should cut $4.8 million next school year.

So far, the district is not considering layoffs, but positions will be left vacant.

“We reduced 19 teachers last year, and this year it will be another 10,” Bauman said. Three administrator positions and three support staff positions will also be cut.

To regain some money, the district plans to charge high school students a one-time locker fee of $10. No determination had been made yet on how much ASB and transportation fees will go up.

“We’re trying to raise them slightly so as not to burden any families, but just regain some revenue,” Bauman said.

Mead ponders layoffs

Mead School District expects to hand out pink slips to as many as 25 classified employees – classroom aids and clerical staff – this summer, said Wayne Leonard, executive director of business services. The district has been able to avoid layoffs up until now. Numbers will be finalized after the district sees how many classified staff retire or resign.

“When we started this whole budget-cutting process three years ago, our goal was not to lay people off,” Leonard said. Mead needs to trim $441,000 in classified staff and $180,000 in certified staff, including teachers. Overall, the district expects to cut $1.2 million.

“This year, we have 35 fewer teaching positions than we did three years ago,” Leonard said. “We could lose another four or five teaching positions through attrition.”

The district is also talking about instituting a participation fee for sports.

“We’ve resisted that for years, but now it’s either eliminating the program or charging a fee,” Leonard said. “We are still trying to figure out what that fee will look like, and trying to make it an annual fee. I think our goal is to raise about $150,000.

Mead is also considering cutting freshman teams or “C squads,” said Leonard, adding he needs to cut $287,000 from sports and $60,000 from extracurricular activities.

Associated Student Body card fees could go up, as could lunch prices.

The proposed cuts are not final, Leonard said. The district has until summer to make decisions.

Other districts consider options

Meanwhile, Spokane Public Schools is still figuring out how to bridge a $5.9 million budget gap.

Preliminary proposed cuts include reduced travel by district employees and not filling open positions in various departments, including maintenance.

Central Valley School District had to trim about $2 million from its budget. The cuts included eliminating 20 teaching positions that had previously been funded by the state to keep class sizes down. No one was laid off, however; the downsizing was accomplished through retirements and resignations.

The district also plans on charging a participation fee for sports to gain $125,000 in revenue, but the amount has not been set.

14 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  Bob_Knows on May 17 at 6:22 a.m.

  Its a start. How about we graduate students after they pass their state exams? What are they wasting 2 more years of “education” for after that? In some districts in New York they now graduate kids after 10th grade. It saves a ton of OUR cash.

  The schools are still over funded. Cut another 20% and we will be getting close to something reasonable.

• 

  deacon46 on May 17 at 6:37 a.m.

  Education is about the learning not about athletic programs for the selected few. Cut the athletic programs but keep physical fitness for all. What prepares children for adult working life is not playing games or watching others play games but in what is academically learned.

• 

  polistra on May 17 at 7:30 a.m.

  Ditto Bob Knows. The last two years of HS are pure waste.

  Take note of the article a couple days ago about merging
  junior college with high school in Idaho. This plan was
  common in the 30s, especially in the Midwest. It worked
  well and saved money, so educrats got rid of it.

• 

  opiemuyo on May 17 at 7:31 a.m.

  I challenge everyone to compare the budget of a struggling, having auctions and fund raising, lower paid teachers private school to the bloated money wasters public schools. Remember, private schools get NO tax money, and provide a better education with half the money.

• 

  lewis8457 on May 17 at 8:06 a.m.

  Sports are important in a Childs life it teaches teamwork, confidence, cooperation, etc.

  I think cutting programs so we can keep the top-heavy administration where the wages are over the 150 grand mark, is a bit near sighted if not plain stupid.

  We need the teachers; lets get rid of the folks that can’t seem to do their job by running in the red. The private’s schools can do it.

  It is called incompetence and greed

• 

  eagleproducer on May 17 at 8:11 a.m.

  The posters on here pick on the easy targets like schools, kids, unions and the poor instead of honestly confronting what is actually draining the U.S. treasury: The Military Industrial Complex. What’s wrong, Jethro, don’t you have the gumption to fight the true devils?

  Steve: To which private schools are you referring to? Certainly not the ones in Spokane. I’m pretty sure if Gonzaga Prep were suffering the wouldn’t have built that new football complex. Have you visited the grounds of St. George’s or Northwest Xtian lately? It looks like they are really hurting for money, especially when the student parking lot is filled with Lexus Suvs and Navigators. Parents are allowed to deduct private school tuition on their taxes so to claim NO taxpayer money is spent on private schools is untrue. Students in private schools have parents who are much more involved in their education and lives on average. That is the difference in achievement. Students in public schools with similar family involvement perform just as well as their private school cohort.

  I agree that athletics need to be the first programs considered for massive cuts and then I’d look at contracting custodial and food service to private concerns. There isn’t one good reason a janitor should make $50,000 a year with benefits, yet there are dozens in District 81 who do. The same goes for food service personnel who don’t even cook anymore but simply re-heat processed foods. As for sports, the rise in obesity rates proves without a doubt they don’t accomplish their intended purpose, which is to have students gain interest in a lifetime of physical activity and exertion. Most nations around the world (especially the ones flailing the U.S. in student achievement) don’t have athletic programs. More money could be funneled to student services that benefit all students instead of an elect few. It would rid high schools of the Joe Jock mentality and eventually eliminate the teachers living in suspended adolescence while trying to recapture the glory days.

  The “educrats” didn’t get rid of the college programs available to students following their sophomore year in college. Washington has “Running Start” where students complete an AA degree while completing their high school graduation requirements at the same time. The program is free to all students who can qualify academically. I have a niece who completed the program last year and she is currently finishing what is her third year of college at the University of Washington. The posters on here decry the ignorance produced by public education yet use ignorance to bolster that position. I hope others can see this disconnect with reality.

• 

  mikeln on May 17 at 9:06 a.m.

  It looks like the people at the top realize there will be no need for the children of average Americans to be educated. Most of us are economic slaves at best and are kept simply to make the wealthy wealthier. By the time it’s over, we will have spent over three trillion on wars in the middle east so the oil companies will have plenty of oil to ship to china and india. Three trillion and the oil companies will not spend one cent of their money to acheive this. The powers that be have sold us out and are now making sure most of us remain to fat and dumb to figure it out. Education is the answer, war is for killing, and should have no place in the human experience.

• 

  retro on May 17 at 9:23 a.m.

  Maybe it’s time for the Kellogg and Wallace school districts to merge. It’s a waste of taxpayer money to pay for any more administrators than absolutely necessary. It’s not the heyday of the mining boom any more.

• 

  greyhound2 on May 17 at 12:28 p.m.

  Some of the districts are scheduling special levies. It would only be fair to run their levies on the regular election day in November, when people have a chance to vote, instead of trying to schedule some off-the-wall day in August when nobody will show up except the district employees.

• 

  MrNatural on May 17 at 2:46 p.m.

  Although I might agree that school administrators as well as some teachers make a bit more in wages than your common person and that these wages should be frozen or cut back during this recession I disagree with cutting extracurricular programs. Having raised two children I value the breadth of experience my kids got through clubs and sports and performances and they cherish these experiences and it made them much better American citizens. My kids are now grown and contribute generously to their community including schools because it produces a well rounded positive citizen that aspires to contribute to a greater society A well rounded educational and socially interactive experience for children is very important otherwise they might grow up to be self-righteous sanctimonious condescending malcontents that enhance nothing.

• 

  deacon46 on May 17 at 5:10 p.m.

  Lewis,
  I earned my Letter in High school and I was part of many teams over the years in both High School and University and firstly it is for the few and secondly as far as teaching team work it is a highly over rated result more like a myth. Being a member of the audience is what most get to do at high school.

• 

  oneanddone on May 17 at 6:04 p.m.

  So many fools, so little space. No one wants to pay for ANY part of civilized society, BUT they all want smooth roads and a Starbucks around the corner, not to mention beer money and cable. Listen up morons, in every aspect of life you get what you pay for. Unlike you sanitation engineers, teachers actually go to college, paying through the nose all the while. Few if any states in the NW pay teachers anything near what their education would dictate if they were in business. You ask any engineer with a masters if they would take $40k after 10 years of experience. I sure as hell wouldn’t have. And Steve, the last for you: parochial schools SUCK. The quality of the teacher, the available materials, the environment all combine to create a horrendous education for unsuspecting kids. I know, I spent 12 years in Lutheran schools. The only real point to a parochial school is dogma. Sure, I learned the Lutheran perspective but not much else. It took me two years in college, on my own public university dime, to catch up to the kids that went to those treacherous and despicable public schools.

• 

  drewzus on May 18 at 9:13 a.m.

  spoketucky is right. Of course parochial schools can stretch their money further. They don’t have to bus students to school. They don’t have to provide most of their students with lunch at a free or reduced price. They don’t have to spend money to teach Special Education students because those students are rarely enrolled in parochial schools. They don’t have to spend money to pay coaches or many of their support staff because those people volunteer their time or are expected to do that extra work without more compensation.

• 

  Watchgroup on May 18 at 7:57 p.m.

  Spokesman needs to do more investigative reporting. Ms. Rinaldi is a member of the Kellogg Finacial Committee that suggested to cut all day kindergarten. Go to ksd391.org and look up the committee members. They are comprised of principals, a superintentant and a ciriculm director that hasn’t any duties due to budget cuts. The principals negotated thier new contracts before the last levy. The superintentant has been given a new three year contract. The first levy that failed was a vote of no confidence of the superintent and school board members. There will be another special levy soon, sports and kindergarten will be the baito, yet district patron still will not know where thier money is going. Ask the Kellogg District Buget Manager where the money goes and one will find out that it is easier to get plans for a nuclear bomb. watchgroup@ksd391.com