{"id":4735,"date":"2010-04-08T14:08:06","date_gmt":"2010-04-08T21:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spiken.wpengine.com\/news\/kent-schools-could-be-seeing-major-budget-cuts-share-your-input-now\/"},"modified":"2016-10-21T20:40:38","modified_gmt":"2016-10-22T03:40:38","slug":"kent-schools-could-be-seeing-major-budget-cuts-share-your-input-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/news\/kent-schools-could-be-seeing-major-budget-cuts-share-your-input-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Kent schools could be seeing major budget cuts – share your input now"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kent School District<\/a> is facing an economic reality that one of its top financial officials is calling \u201cunprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve not seen the kind of wholesale reductions we think may happen this year and next year again,\u201d said John Knutson, executive director of finance for Kent schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that the state Legislature has not adjourned, we\u2019re hoping for the best and planning for the worst,\u201d Knutson said, of the financial funding outcome that Kent – along with other school districts in the state – will be facing.<\/p>\n

The state Legislature this year is looking to shore up an estimated $2.8 billion funding gap. And because state dollars account for 80 percent of the district budget, school officials are looking at scaling the 2010-11 budget down anywhere from $6-$12 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwelve million is a worst-case scenario,\u201d Knutson explained. \u201cIt would probably be less.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the clock is ticking, regardless of when the state Legislature hammers out a final spending plan.<\/p>\n

One of the most critical deadlines for Kent schools is just around the corner.<\/p>\n

Knutson explained the school district is mandated to abide by a May 15 deadline, to announce staff layoffs for the following school year. Given that Kent\u2019s budget is roughly 80 percent salaries and benefits, \u201cwith the size of the cuts we\u2019re facing, it\u2019s inevitable that it will involve cutting staff positions,\u201d the finance official said.<\/p>\n

With that May 15 deadline looming, and needing time to make the appropriate preparations for it, Knutson said a budget-reduction plan needs to be in front of the Kent School Board by its April 14 meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat will allow us to prepare for any reduction in force by that May 15 deadline,\u201d Knutson said, although noting a specific number of layoffs hasn\u2019t yet been determined, given that the reduction plan hasn\u2019t yet been fully developed.<\/p>\n

The budget-reduction plan is just that – a plan. Should the Legislature boost school funding, or some other source of revenue come to light – as the federal stimulus funds did last year for Kent schools – then the district would change that plan accordingly and not lay so many people off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe adjust,\u201d Knutson said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to commit for a level of reduction we don\u2019t have to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just what happened last year, when the school district was predicting dire cuts in staffing – upwards of 120 employees – but federal stimulus dollars flowed to the state, and from there, to the schools. It was a $10 million boon for Kent that enabled the district to refrain from making most of the staffing cuts.<\/p>\n

Kent has been able to stretch some of those stimulus dollars into next year\u2019s budget as well. But from what he\u2019s hearing now, Knutson said, Kent schools should not anticipate that kind of windfall for next year\u2019s budget, which is what they are now in the process of building.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not hearing through media reports, or OSPI (Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction) that that will continue,\u201d Knutson said of the federal funds. \u201cSometimes they\u2019ll prove you wrong, but you really can\u2019t count on that until the deal is signed. So we take it at face value what we hear, and we plan accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that in mind, Kent\u2019s April 14 budget-reduction plan won\u2019t be built around the hope of more stimulus dollars. Although any schools budget built on that reduction plan could be amended, should those dollars become available down the road, Knudsen said.<\/p>\n

The painful reality at this time is the Kent School District may be seeing budget cuts it\u2019s never seen before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one message people really need to know is that this is unprecedented,\u201d Knutson said, although he added the district – which is the fourth-largest in the state – will still be able to function with the worst of those cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are significant reductions, but they are not catastrophic,\u201d Knutson said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Make Your Point<\/p>\n

The public is invited to participate in Kent School District budget priorities in one of three ways:<\/p>\n

1. Online Survey: The KSD Web site, www.kentschooldistrict.org<\/a> features a link to 2010-2011 Budget \u2013 Community Input Survey. The site also provides a PowerPoint presentation and other detailed information. The deadline to comment is April 12.<\/p>\n

2. Paper Survey: Visit your school office to complete and submit a paper survey by the April 12 deadline.<\/p>\n

3. Community Budget Session and Public Hearing: Attend the Community Budget Session on April 12 and complete a paper or an online survey (laptops will be available for your use). The Community Budget Session will run 6-9 p.m. in the Kentwood Gymnasium, 25800 164th Avenue S.E., Covington. The session will begin with a presentation and will follow with time for public comment. In consideration of time and the number of people wishing to share, comments will be limited to two minutes.<\/p>\n

After the April 12 meeting, all survey feedback will be tallied and presented to the board for their consideration. Results also will be displayed on the district Web site<\/a> by April 15.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kent School District is facing an economic reality that one of its top financial officials is calling \u201cunprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-4735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4735"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4735\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4735"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}