On April 21, just over 50 people took part in the Inglemoor High version of three budget workshops held by the Northshore School District.
The schools are looking to close what officials say will be a $2.9 million budget gap in their next spending plan, a gap they say was created when legislators in Olympia finished adjusting the state budget April 13 following protracted talks. Northshore Superintendent Larry Francois said, just to be on the safe side, his staff has presented Northshore’s Board of Directors with just over $3 million in budget adjustments.
Francois presented those adjustments, along with a new proposal for what’s being called a supplemental levy, to the public during workshops at each of the district’s major high schools.
Each workshop allowed participants to give immediate electronic feedback via devices that somewhat resembled TV remote controls.
By ample margins, those in attendance at Inglemoor agreed with the plans of Francois’ staff, plans that still must gain school-board approval. They also largely agreed with board priorities, which range from protecting class sizes to keeping extracurricular activities in place.
During last year’s budget talks, the board established maintaining class size as its No. 1 goal. Francois said the current spending plan would maintain class counts at roughly their current level.
Finally, composed primarily of district parents, 88 percent of the Inglemoor group also gave the green light to at least putting the supplemental levy before the general public.
The straw poll taken was not about whether those in attendance actually would vote for a supplemental levy, but whether or not to put such a levy on the ballot.
If they decide to place a measure before voters, Francois has recommended the board float the issue during the Aug. 17 primary. The filing deadline for that election is May 25.
In terms of closing the projected budget gap, the primary proposal is for a one-time expenditure of $2.2 million from the district’s surplus funds. Francois stated the move would allow the district to maintain a fund balance of roughly $5 million as mandated by school-board policy.
Other, much smaller spending adjustments would come by way of several additional steps, such as rearranging a special education summer program and some further consolidation of bus routes, reducing personnel and overhead costs. Neither Francois nor any other school official has talked about cutting teachers.
While he has not said he either backs or does not back a supplemental levy, Francois unveiled the idea to the school board April 13. The measure would take advantage of a change in state law, one that legislators adopted the same time as the state budget adjustments.
According to Francois, SHB 2893 has two key provisions. The first allows districts to collect local taxes at the same rate despite any drops in state funding. Previously, if state and federal funding fell, so did the amount Washington school districts were allowed to collect locally. The bill also allows for districts to ask voters to increase local school collections. By law, a district’s local collections can be no more than a certain percentage of its overall budget.
In the case of Northshore, levy passage would increase local collections from 24.9 percent to 28.9 percent of the district’s total budget. The dollar amount generated would depend on the system’s entire revenues, but district officials have estimated the levy would raise between $5.3 million and $12 million over four years starting in 2011. After the meeting, a number of parents expressed support for the issue.
“I think we have to do what is right by our kids,” said parent Eric Schulman.
While she asked not to be identified, another parent noted district voters always have given Northshore schools a good deal of support and she predicted they would continue to do so.
Voters approved three school-funding issues only a few months ago in February.
