50 Blaine school employees expected to be laid off

The Blaine school district plans to lay off 50 employees ahead of next school year, fewer than what was planned for in April, as it prepares for an expected drop in federal and state funding in 2023/24.

Blaine school district superintendent Christopher Granger said that as of June 20 the district plans to eliminate 59.5 positions for the 2023/24 school year and that 50 employees would be laid off. Granger said the other positions were eliminated through employees who were retiring or otherwise leaving the district. The district is still reorganizing positions and staff members, and Granger said the number of employees impacted could change. 

“Those are faces and people that we care about,” he said. “We wouldn’t have these positions if we didn’t think they were needed, which is why we advocate for funding that meets the needs of kids.”

The reductions in force come after the Blaine school board passed a “worst-case scenario” reduced education plan that would remove 65.2 positions for the 2023/24 school year during its April 24 regular meeting. Dozens of students led a walkout to demonstrate silent support for their teachers, while upset parents and community members packed the Performing Arts Center to show their disapproval and speak during public comment at the April meeting.

In July 2022, the district adopted a budget with a four-year forecast that accumulated a $14 million deficit by 2026. The forecast for the 2022/23 school year alone projected a nearly $5 million loss, with expenditures set at $45.3 million and revenue expected to be $40.5 million. The district expected a $6 million deficit in the 2023/24 school year, if no program adjustments were made.

Following the meeting, executive director of finance and operations Amber Porter told The Northern Light in an email that the plan would reduce next school year’s budget deficit by $3.8 million for a total of $1.2 million.

While 50 staff members may not be returning at the end of August, Granger said some of the reductions were not full-time positions. Six recess supervision positions were considered as a whole number in the overall count, although they worked 2.5 hours per day and were supported through federal funds issued to elementary and secondary schools, or ESSER. 

Granger said district administration is working on staffing issues daily.

Statewide

School districts across Washington state are resorting to similar cost-cutting measures amid budget crises. 

Seattle Public Schools – Washington’s largest school district – is facing a $131 million projected budget shortfall next school year, where it is expected to layoff more than 60 employees. According to a March report by KUOW, district officials said 74 central office positions will be removed, but most teachers’ jobs will be safe. The central office cuts are reported to save the district around $33 million. 

According to MyNorthwest, the Everett school district board has approved a plan to eliminate as many as 142 positions to account for a $28 million deficit, and the Bellevue district may fold three elementary schools due to drops in enrollment.

The budget shortfalls for all districts are the result of declining enrollment, rising labor costs and heightened student needs following the pandemic.

Some districts, in the process of rearranging positions, have been able to rehire teachers and paraeducators who were laid off last month. Bellingham Public Schools superintendent Greg Baker announced June 9 that more than a dozen certificated staff had been rehired and 19 paraeducators had hours reinstated. In April, the district passed a plan to manage its $16 million deficit that eliminated 80 certificated staff, with a third of those employees already leaving.

Funding issues

Over the past months in Blaine school board meetings, board members and Granger have called for parents and community members to reach out to local representatives to advocate for a reevaluation of the McCleary decision. The Washington Supreme Court’s McCleary decision requires the state to pay for all basic education costs – in attempt at equal opportunity between districts with high and low property values. 

Granger said after the June 20 school board meeting that the McCleary decision restricts a property-rich district like Blaine by setting a cap on its levy collections. The district’s levy funding is then dependent on its enrollment.

“I think it was well intended to level the playing field, but I don’t think that that’s been the result across the state,” Granger said.

The district will cut certificated staff, paraeducators and district office staff among others due to the lack of funding and around a 50-student drop in enrollment. Twenty-five percent of layoffs will be in the district office while 22 percent are Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members, 17 percent are administration and 14 percent Blaine Education Association members, according to the reduction plan.

During public comment June 20, math specialist teacher Michelle Schultz asked the board to reconsider eliminating a math intervention position for the second meeting in a row. Schultz said she was told that although the intervention position has funding in the budget it was deemed ineffective and not used this past school year.

“A minimum of 20 percent of the ESSER funds was supposed to go toward learning loss due to Covid-19,” Schultz said. “It was never intended to bill already existing positions and people, but rather it was intended to have more staff, more resources and more support dedicated specifically to the unfinished learning of our struggling mathematicians and readers.”

Most board members previously spoke on the issue during the May 22 regular meeting. Board president Dougal Thomas said during the meeting that the district only has so much money and has to maintain a fund balance, but posed a question as to where concerned community members could focus their efforts.

Board member Kimberly Akre said to go straight to the source – the state legislature. Board member Erika Creydt said the board should also hold Granger accountable so that finances are being prioritized in the best interest of the students. 

“I think that our superintendent is doing an excellent job in doing just that,” board member Charles Gibson said. “He’s been working on this since October.”

Board member Don Leu said the funding issues are not merely a result of the pandemic, but a sustained lack of funding of public schools across the nation.

“There’s just a slow strangulation of local school districts that’s taking place because of inadequate federal and state attention to the public education system, which has always been the way to move oneself up,” Leu said.

On June 20, Granger said students have significant needs and the district needs a system that gives it the resources to adequately address those needs. He said making these decisions isn’t easy is an understatement.

“The difficulty we have making decisions isn’t as hard as not having employment,” he said. “We sympathize with those people and advocate for funding that can address some of those things.”