At a school board meeting on May 26, school board members got a first read of the district’s 2022-2023 budget, set for approval at the board’s next meeting, on June 9.
In recent weeks, the board has approved a reduction in force proposal that Superintendent Slade McSheehy has said is necessary to cure a $1.3 projected deficit in the projected budget.
In previous meetings, enrollment of 1,424 students was projected in the district for the 2022-2023 school year; now, however, the finalized budget shows a projection of 1440 students — a change that will add approximately $176,000 in funding from the state.
The budget document, which can be viewed at tinyurl.com/yckn8dzs, shows a 6.8% increase from last year’s budget in salaries for certificated employees and a 9.4% increase in salaries for classified staff, with both explained by new bargaining agreements with these employees.
Benefits for staff, accordingly, have also increased by 6.4% in the 2022-2023 budget.
Personnel costs in 2022-2023 will comprise 79% of the district’s budget; in 2021-2022, they made up 77% of the budget.
Reduction in force plan unchanged since May 12
The district’s reduction of force plan, first announced on April 29, has been roundly criticized by union leaders of both Vashon Education Association and Vashon Educational Support Personnel, as well as numerous VISD staff members and members of the public, for adversely impacting staff members who serve the district’s most at-need and priority equity populations.
The cuts, aimed at restoring $917,000 to the district’s coffers, include a reduction of hours for the district’s occupational therapist, who works one-on-one with special education students, and para-educators who provide math support and other assistance for special needs students and English language learners.
The cuts also reduced the hours for Chautauqua Elementary School’s full-time librarian and its Spanish teacher. Other cuts targeted the sixth-grade band program, art classes at both McMurray Middle School and Vashon High School, and eliminated a French-language elective at McMurray.
Food service workers saw their hours reduced, and the reduction eliminated a custodial position as well.
In mid-May, board member Kali Aguilera suggested that the business office should look into the savings of either furloughing, for a period of eight days, some of the district’s most highly paid administrators, including the district’s superintendent, and/or freezing their most recent salary increases, which were approved at the April 29 meeting at which a reduction in force proposal was first introduced.
However, last week McSheehy told The Beachcomber that he had consulted with the district’s legal counsel about this idea, and had been told that freezing or furloughing those positions might “leave the district at significant risk of breach of contract, given the former board approval of administrator contracts.”
The idea was not discussed again at the board’s May 26 meeting.
Teacher speaks up about cuts to music program
At the start of the meeting, the board heard from Erin Kealy, who recently moved to Vashon to take a .8 full-time employment (FTE) position at Chautauqua Elementary School (CES).
Kealy said she had been eager to take her job and move to Vashon because of the community’s vibrant music culture and community, which he hoped to further foster in her young students.
However, due to the RIF proposal to cut the sixth-grade band position at McMurray Middle School, the instructor for that program, Britt Dahlgren, who had seniority over Kealy, was offered .2 FTE of Kealy’s position, leaving Kealy at .6 hours at Chautauqua.
Keely explained, in a phone call with The Beachcomber after the board meeting, that Dahlgren has now offered to not impose the .2 FTE cut on Kealy, but rather, reduce her own hours, leaving both of the district’s music teachers at part-time status.
At the board meeting, Kealy spoke with urgency and passion about the importance of music education to the school district, saying that she and Dahlgren shared a goal that the district’s music program would grow under their direction.
“It saddens me that my position over the last year was with a .8 contract and rendered me unable to see every student every week, which I see as an equity issue,” Kealy said.
She also recounted how, before the reductions, she had shared with the administration a five-year plan to grow the music program in order to attract more students to the district.
“I chose Vashon because of its strong community connection to music,” she said. “But this systemic withering of our program will not be sustainable. Britt and I want to work more for the students. To provide them with opportunities to sing and play for wider audiences, to compete at state competitions, to educate their musical beings. But I fear that as this program is reduced it will not be sustainable.”
Kealy urged more in the community to make their voices heard. “I see three choices before us: Do we want a reduction in musical opportunity? Do we want our music program to remain at its current state — where not every student is afforded music class every week? Or do we want to reflect our beautiful musical community and grow our scholastic music programs to match?”
She closed by sharing written copies of her five-year plan for the district’s music program, as well as a letter to the board of directors from one of her young music students, Marlow Cardoza, who expressed her conviction that music education was vitally important to students. (See “Letters to the editor,” page 6.)
Next meeting set for June 9
The school board will be asked to approve the new $27.2 million dollar budget at its June 9 meeting.
Meetings are held in person in the district’s conference room at Chautauqua Elementary School and are also streamed live on the district’s YouTube channel at tinyurl.com/bddp6saj.
