School cuts outlined

Some freshmen could be without sports teams, elementary libraries may be staffed only part time and classrooms may not be cleaned every day.

Those are just a few of the possibilities the Spokane Public Schools board is considering to fill a projected budget gap next year.

Because of declining enrollment and mandates unfunded by the state Legislature, administrators need to make more than $10 million in cuts to the district’s $285 million budget.

On Wednesday, Superintendent Brian Benzel and staff presented the school board with options totaling $12.3 million. The actual budget gap will likely be between $10.5 million and $10.8 million.

Programs or items that could be considered are:

“Eliminating high school career specialists;

“Closing a day-care center at Havermale High School;

“Reducing custodial staff by as many as 40 positions and cleaning classrooms on a staggered schedule;

“Eliminating middle school librarians and reducing some elementary library positions to part .time;

“Increasing class size by one student;

“Reducing online course offerings through Spokane Virtual Learning;

“Eliminating or reducing extracurricular activities at the elementary schools, including intramural sports;

“Eliminating or reducing school clubs or activities at the middle schools;

“Modifying or eliminating some school bus routes;

“Closing Pratt Elementary School and moving the district’s special-education assessment center into that building, eliminating a yearly lease at another site.

Other possible reductions include trimming central office expenditures by $850,000, including scaling back district publications, such as a quarterly report to the community; reducing energy costs by $300,000; reducing the special-education budget by $1 million by eliminating some classified and certified support positions and restructuring a work-based learning program, which includes eliminating some staff; restricting travel; and eliminating several other staff positions through attrition, including several teacher-on-special-assignment positions at the high schools.

By closing Pratt, the district expects to save about $450,000.

While some teaching positions may be cut, and there may be some staff layoffs, most cuts will be made through attrition, district officials said.

The teachers and certified staff that could be at risk are likely those with one-year contracts and new teachers, said Maureen Ramos, Spokane Education Association president.

“We are going to try to find a way to make sure that they have a job,” Ramos said.

About $2 million will come from reductions already made this year, including canceling a band and strings concert for fifth-graders, instituting a modified hiring freeze, reducing travel, and reducing all other department budgets by 3 percent to 5 percent.

That amount could change, depending upon what the Legislature proposes after finishing its session in April and what the governor adopts as a state budget.

“Things will change, we know that,” said Mark Anderson, associate superintendent for school support services.

“I see this as an array of choices, none of which is comfortable,” said Christie Querna, board president. She noted that the community will have several opportunities to comment on the budget suggestions, and she hopes they will.

The school board will not adopt a budget until August.

Additionally, other options were suggested for future years but not for this year. Those could include closing another elementary school and relocating some programs to reduce the number of building leases the district pays, examining the use of high school buildings including Havermale, and reconfiguring the elementary band and strings program.

“Until the Legislature fully funds basic education, we are going to go through this on an annual basis,” Querna said.

Like many districts across the state, Spokane is looking to the Legislature to fix what educators consider a flawed funding system for public schools. The state continually requires more of schools but does not provide the money to support those requirements.

Currently Spokane pays for many programs mandated by the state out of its voter-approved levy money, and in the last five years has already cut more than $30 million from the budget.

Last year the district used its savings – referred to as a fund balance – to prevent any cuts in school programs or staff.

“We don’t have a budget problem. … We have a funding problem,” Anderson said.

At least two lawsuits have been filed against the state in an effort to get more money for basic education, and Benzel and others have been lobbying state legislators to address the issue.

Spokane typically begins the budget process in May, with public comment, before a budget is recommended by the superintendent and then adopted by the board sometime in late summer.

This year, administrators knew they were preparing for the worst and asked staff in February to begin thinking about what they could do without next year. In some cases, funding – especially staffing – is already figured out before administrators begin their budget planning.

“If we don’t start working now, we won’t have some of these options available to us later,” Benzel said. “Right now this is about figuring out priorities and trade-offs.”