School District Leaders Slam State Senate Budget Cut Proposals

Lake Washington and Issaquah school district officials are calling state Senate budget cut plans an "encroachment" and "assault" on Washington's basic education requirement, adding opposition to the proposal to deal with a state shortfall of more than $5 billion.

Their words followed the Tuesday night unveiling of a Senate budget proposal that would trim hundreds of millions of dollars by essentially cutting teachers' pay 3 percent and withholding money to schools for students' unexcused absences.

"While I certainly understand the state's difficult fiscal position, this proposal goes too far, and does not reflect our values," Lake Washington Superintendent Chip Kimball wrote to his staff in a Thursday email.

Under the Senate plan, the Issaquah School District said Thursday it stands to lose more than $5.2 million a year.  

Lawmakers from the Senate and state House need to meet to resolve differences in their respective budget plans and the proposal from Gov. Chris Gregoire. That compromise budget bill would then go to Gregoire for her review before the legislation becomes law.

"We are lobbying for whatever keeps us at the least amount of cuts," Issaquah spokeswoman Sara Niegowski said in an email.

Last week, the state House released its budget proposal, which would eliminate money to help reduce crowding in kindergarten through fourth grade classes.

The Washington Education Association, a union that represents teachers, believes more students would be crammed into classrooms and that schools will have fewer teachers should the proposed cuts go into effect, said spokesman Rich Wood.

His group estimates the Senate budget cuts would total more than $2 billion for kindergarten through 12th grade students - or $2,000 per student.

"We know that some cuts are unavoidable, but these budget cuts are going to hurt our state's kids and jeopardize their futures," he said in a statement. "There's no way around it."

WEA also believes that the House budget proposal "freezes the salary schedule" for teachers, he added. 

The state constitution's basic education requirement is the framework for learning in a school day, officials said. Niegowski said that  officials are questioning how the state Senate wants to save money. 

"There's some issue about its legality under the (state) Constitution," she said.

If the Senate plans to withhold dollars based on unexcused absences stands, the  could lose a significant amount of money, spokeswoman Kathryn Reith said. 

"We don't have a high unexcused rate. But they always happen," she said. "If a student plays hooky, we still have to pay for the teacher, electricity and all the costs."

S. Krishnan Thyagarajan, a Sammamish resident, called the cuts harmful to the public and the region's future. His children attend  and .

"There's enough evidence to show that education is the cutting edge of the country," said Thyagarajan, who works on strategy and special projects for Quest Software.

To help the public schools, he said he's willing to pay more money. Policymakers, he added, need to figure out budget tradeoffs. For example, he said he would rather have state roads be of slightly lesser quality and public schools receive enough money.

"Every time I hear about this, it pains me," the 47-year-old said. "Cutting down teachers when classes are bursting seems like a stupid idea." 

Lake Washington administrators, Reith said, are working on the upcoming budget but the uncertainty in Olympia makes it difficult. The legislative session is scheduled to end on April 24.

"We don't know which of the three versions will predominate. We have a meeting on Friday to figure out how we approach our budgeting," Reith said Thursday.

"We don't want to end up scaring people and planning for cuts that you don't need to make."

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Editor's note: The Seattle Times reports that Gov. Chris Gregoire said that a special legislative session will be needed to finish the state budget process. That process is expected to last longer than the original completion date of April 24. Also, the state Senate has dropped language which would penalize school districts should students play hooky, according to The Times. This note was added on the evening of Friday, April 15 to reflect the new timeline and the removal of that language.