Kent School District could see layoffs next year

If next year’s budget projections remain as they are now, the Kent School District is lined up for a serious dose of layoffs.

Approximately 43 certificated positions (including teachers) and another 18 non-certificated jobs could fall to the budgetary axe, as the district looks to shore up what it’s saying will be a $9.5 million gap in revenues next school year, according to district spokeswoman Becky Hanks.

Those numbers don’t necessarily mean 43 teachers are be getting layoff notices – the cuts are being measured in “full-time equivalent” terms, meaning they could take in part-time positions, and reductions of some staff hours, with a different outcome in the final number of jobs cut.

At a packed meeting Wednesday night, the Kent School Board approved a reduction plan taking those layoffs into account, as well as a number of other belt-tightening measures throughout the district, to ensure the district had a balanced budget picture for the upcoming school year.

“What the board approved is a reduction program that is going to result in a reduction of force,” Hanks said, noting the “ball is in the court” of the district’s human-resources department to work out the details of the layoffs.

Although it’s only spring, the board had to act on the budget projections now, to ensure that layoff notices go out by May 15 to affected employees.

Should additional state or federal dollars come later down the road to offset that budget gap, the district can then revamp budget and its layoff scenario. That was the case last year, when a windfall $10 million in federal stimulus funds enabled Kent to shore up enough of its budget so that only a handful of positions were cut.

But there’s no talk from the feds about that influx of cash again next year, and the state has had to shore up a $2.8 billion revenue drop of its own.

Kent’s proposed layoffs are part of a larger, painful belt-tightening scenario for the school district that takes into account major program cuts, putting off projects and generally cutting deeper into resources, to ensure the district has a plan for bridging the anticipated funding gap.

For board members, it was a tough call to make.

“It’s been a rough two-and-a-half years, and I don’t think we’re out of it yet,” said Board Member Jim Berrios, in an interview after the meeting, about the financial downfall that has impacted not just Kent, but districts across the state and the country. “I need to stay focused that this could last another year. You continue to do what you have to do to survive that year, and I think that’s what we continue to need to do as a school district. You can’t go under the notion, ‘it’ll get better next year.’ I think that this entire board has done a great job of agonizing through the process of trying to come up with the best possible solution.”

“It’s very hard and very draining,” said School Board President Debbie Straus. “It’s not something I enjoy doing by any means.”

What made matters so frustrating, she added, was deciding layoff scenarios when there were still so many unknowns.

“There’s still a lot of moving pieces going on – there may be people retiring, or finding different jobs,” Straus said. “You literally have to do it worst-case scenario first.

Also on the chopping block is a prioritized list of programs that if cut, could save the district roughly $4.93 million next year. Items range from dropping fifth-grade band and orchestra, eliminating seventh- and eighth-grade music contests, eliminating middle school baseball and fastpitch programs having middle-school sports pay to play, delaying curriculum improvements and new textbooks and musical instruments, among other things. The “laundry list” is arranged in order of priority, based on the citizen surveys and School Board input.

The School Board also agreed to reduce the school district’s undesignated reserves to 4 percent of the total district budget. That’s 1 percent lower than the previously mandated 5 percent reserve.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the board, following a suggestion from Berrios, directed Kent Superintendent Lee Vargas to look into the use of an additional .25 percent of the reserve fund, which would free up roughly another $625,000.

“We want finance to come back to us with that .25 percent, and say ‘here’s what that means,'” Berrios said, of the financial outcome of freeing up that amount.

The Kent Education Association – Kent’s teacher union – has been vocal in its objection of the school district’s interpretation of just how deeply the financial impacts could be.

Union members conducted a rally Wednesday night outside district headquarters before the meeting, then helped to fill the board’s meeting room.

Mike McNett, a union agent, estimated there were about 200 members in attendance at the meeting.

He also noted the union’s position remains the same.

“We think the board is making a mistake and the financial situation is not nearly as die as presented to them by the administration,” he said.

The KEA, in a statement sent out shortly before the rally, claimed the district is “looking for a strategy to shift the deepest cuts onto school teachers and impoverished parents while the district continues to sit on its well-padded $22 million savings account.”

Look for updates to this story.

Click here to learn more about the district’s budget-reduction measures.

Click here to learn more about the Kent Education Association’s position on the school district budget and other labor issues.