SEQUIM — “Restoration” isn’t a word ordinarily heard among school administrators and teachers.
But this year is a long way from normal when it comes to educating Sequim’s children, Sequim School District officials said.
It’s a year in which the state of Washington, facing a multibillion-dollar revenue gap, forced deep slashes in school budgets.
Stimulus package
And just in time, this became a season when the federal stimulus package restored a small slice of the lost funding, rescuing districts such as Sequim.
After issuing layoff notices to 16 para-educators — teachers’ assistants who help children with reading, math and beyond — and three certified teachers last spring, Sequim Schools Superintendent Bill Bentley and the district Board of Directors got a reprieve:
They received word that their five public schools stand to receive some $435,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.
And as Bentley and the School Board had vowed to do, they spent the influx largely on people.
Restoration of teachers, para-educators, librarians and support staff will be part of the budget the board is expected to adopt Thursday during its 1 p.m. meeting in the district board room inside the Sequim High School Performing Arts Center, 601 N. Sequim Ave.
Back in May, the district set about cutting some $1.4 million from its 2009-2010 budget, which meant the elimination of 10 teaching positions.
Of those, seven were cut through attrition: seven teachers retired or resigned. That left three to receive layoff notices.
Then came the para-educators. Of 73, 20 positions were cut.
Two of the district’s librarians, the school nurse and two elementary-school secretaries were also to be laid off in the original budget.
First Teacher, a program offering activities and education for parents of preschoolers, was to have its $42,000 allocation removed.
With the federal dollars, Sequim will see the restoration of all three laid-off teachers, 16 para-educators and the two librarians.
The two secretaries, one at Greywolf Elementary School and one at Helen Haller Elementary, are to be brought back, too; “the demands of the student, staff and parent population establish the priority,” Bentley wrote in his “restoration recommendation.”
But with that $435,000, the district could afford only to partially restore some aspects of public education in Sequim.
School nurse
The sole school nurse, a $50,000 position, will be replaced by $15,000 in contract services, for a nurse who’ll dispense medications and “review of nursing plans for students with life-threatening conditions.”
First Teacher’s allocation $10,000, less than one-fourth of its previous funding; the program will continue to use non-monetary district resources such as the playroom and lending library at the Sequim Community School at 220 W. Alder St.
In hopes of filling in the gap, director Cynthia Martin has applied for foundation grants, and a team of volunteers will host a fundraising dinner this Saturday at the Boys & Girls Club in Sequim; reservations can be made by phoning 360-681-2250.
And while Bentley’s recommendation restores $85,000 toward curriculum and technology in the new budget, the schools will have less than what he believes is needed to stay current.
“We’re maintaining what we have,” in terms of computers and software, “but we’re not going to be able to replace aging equipment,” Bentley said.
Make do
The scant allocation “makes it difficult for us to do a thorough adoption of new materials,” so students and teachers may have to make do with elderly books and terminals, until the funding picture improves, he said.
“I would emphasize,” added Bentley, “that the reductions we did make were across the board, in every area. We didn’t replace a significant number of staff members who left.”
The past five months of financial planning have been “a rollercoaster,” added Brian Lewis, the district’s business manager.
“The story that is not told by the restoration is that all custodians lost at least five contract days per year, with some losing 24 days,” while many other staff, including every teacher and secretary in the district, are losing one to two days’ pay per year.
The district had no money left, Bentley noted, to restore funding for athletic programs, so students can expect to pay $75 per activity in the coming year.
Extracurricular activities fell far below classroom teachers and support staff on the priority list, he said.
Bentley added that this year’s forced reductions are the most severe he’s seen in 25 years as a school superintendent.
Forecasting an economic upturn, of course, is something any school official would like to do.
School Board member Virginia O’Neil, who served on the district’s finance committee, has mixed feelings.
“I’m very, very thankful for the stimulus money,” she said.
“I feel really good about bringing those [teachers and staff] back. Students need textbooks and they need technology, but they really need librarians.”
But while the federal help will last into 2011, “then it stops. That’s scary. The stimulus put a big Band-Aid on a very, very big wound.”
Levy election talk
Which is why O’Neil and the School Board will begin talking about a maintenance and operations levy election early next year.
Sequim’s current levy, passed in February 2006, expires in fall 2010.
O’Neil said voting for a renewed levy — at a higher rate to keep up with rising costs — is one way to contend with the state’s funding crises.
“Sequim has the opportunity in the next levy campaign,” she said, “to really increase the support to student achievement.”
Sequim’s budget is “already very lean,” O’Neil added. Hunting for places to cut was “brutal,” as those who attended last spring’s public meetings learned.
But “the community really responded to the meetings we had,” she recalled. O’Neil said she and the School Board will again welcome comments from the public during Thursday’s budget meeting.
“It’s their school,” she said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
