Message from Kent School District superintendent, board president about budget crisis

As the new year rapidly unfolds, we want to reach out to our KSD family with several updates regarding important issues impacting the district. As always, we should start by focusing on our students and there are a great many things to be excited about.

In the coming weeks you will be hearing more about significant improvements in our on-time graduation rates and the steady closing of the achievement gap between differing ethnic groups in our district. These important achievements are the result of hard work and innovation from all of you, especially our teachers and support staff at every school. Before we turn our full attention to the impacts of current state and federal budget cuts, we’ll begin by updating you on closely related issues – the new strategic plan that will guide us through the remainder of this decade and the coming contract discussions for new collective bargaining agreements.

A New Strategic Plan – Before the winter break, the district’s 65-member Strategic Planning Committee completed its work developing the framework of a new strategic plan using the input of more than 6,500 members of our community. The plan will guide the district for the next decade and ensure our children are receiving a 21st century education delivered in the most effective and efficient manner. Now that the committee has finished its initial work, the input from teachers, students, support staff, families, businesses, higher education, and community partners will continue to be our guide as we craft the final plan. Stay tuned. There is more information coming about this important process.

Contract Talks – In the next few months, the district will begin discussions with representatives from various union groups for new collective bargaining agreements. Our goal is to have an open and healthy conversation where all sides are able to evaluate the data, share their interests, and advocate for fair contracts for all concerned. We will seek contracts that are practical, accountable, and transparent, while continuing to focus on our primary goal of increasing student achievement. With the challenge of declining state and federal resources and increasing expectations, we will continue to be financially responsible to our tax-paying public as we work collaboratively and in a respectful and thoughtful manner with all of our union partners.

Budget Reductions – A mission to serve EVERY student and a commitment to fairness in dealing with our workforce are great challenges in the best of times. And these are not the best of times… In fact, according to Governor Gregoire, these are the most challenging economic times in living memory. We must remain wise stewards with the funds entrusted to us by the public and while an exact dollar amount is far from clear at this point, it is very clear that deep cuts are coming and are going to affect us all. To review a presentation made to the Kent School Board, click here.

We need to be very clear on this point, the state budget crisis means reductions in our available funds and will impact our workforce. These reductions are projected to be more severe than anything we’ve experienced in the past, and will require all of us to come together to maintain the integrity of our educational services and instruction.

Our new budgetary norm is increasingly deeper cuts from our funders for the foreseeable future. The governor’s recent proposals reduce educational funding by 2.2 billion dollars in the 2011-2012 school year. While we are busy evaluating the specific impacts to our operations, initial review leads us to expect KSD will be forced to make upwards of 16.7 million dollars in budget cuts due to the coming state and federal reductions.

Of immediate concern in the current 2010-2011 school year are mid-year cuts from the state. Looking at an existing 1.14 billion dollar state deficit, Olympia is pushing forward with a supplemental or “Early Action Budget” immediately reducing our funds available by $3,044,551. We are managing these reductions by implementing a freeze of non-critical hiring, saving carryover funds from previous years, and exercising our contingency funds/fund balance. As illustrated on this chart, the fund balance will provide almost 88 percent of our financial safety net and because we have it in place, we are facing no mid-year layoffs.

Unfortunately, adjusted hiring policy and the use of declining fund balance contingencies will not eliminate additional reductions projected for next year. We are a people-centered enterprise. Because 87 percent of our budget pays salaries and wages, these major state cuts of our operating revenue will have a real impact on real people – jobs, families, and lives. The state’s multi-year predictions and national economists are telling us this is not a short-term trend. A variety of options, creative partnerships, and financial contingencies are under consideration to balance impending cuts with the need to accomplish the district’s primary duty – continuing to provide our community’s children with a quality, equitable, and relevant education.

While the phrase “doing more with less” is overused, it is also our new operational reality. Kent School District is among the largest and most diverse districts in the state and nation. We can take great pride in the accomplishments of our past and find great confidence in our own abilities to adapt, to restructure, to exhibit our shared respect and resolve, and to weather the financial storms of our times. We have heard from many of you and understand the anxiety these uncertain days are causing. How will these budget reductions specifically impact you, your school, your department, and your students? The answers to these questions will become clearer in the coming weeks and months. For now, please know that we are actively engaged with state leaders trying to avoid undue hardship and fully processing the information they provide us while continuing our ongoing assessment of the funding, the costs, and the benefits of every phase of our operations. You can help by personally reaching out to your legislators and telling them the KSD story. Tell them to make K-12 education a true priority and let them know your views on the importance of a fully funded system.

As we move forward, we will continue to place our students at the center of the decision making process. We will also continue to honor the commitments and successes of our workforce and meet the financial responsibilities of our positions. Our 27,362 students and their futures are the reason we all serve, and together we will meet the challenges of our times as we successfully prepare all of our students for their futures.