Bill Freund, ace state budget analyst for the WEA, sent out an email to council presidents and staff on Wednesday highlighting some of the things we can look forward to next year:
*There will be no change to the phase-in of all-day kindergarten. In the House budget proposal there had initially been talk of suspending the increase in the number of schools served, but things are still on schedule. Sadly, the schedule doesn't reach Medical Lake for several years.
*More money is alloted for libraries and non-employee related costs (NERCs).
*The funded ratio of classified staff is increased from one for every 59 students to 1 for every 58.75 students. No school district can really operate on those numbers; for Medical Lake the old formula would pay for 33.9 paraprofessionals, while the new formula pays for 34.05 (based off of a 2000 student enrollment).
*The Promoting Academic Success program (PAS) has been eliminated.
*Health costs for retirees were scheduled to go up to $65.97 a month; instead, it will be $60.40. This saves us as a district nearly $9,000.
Keep watching this space; I'll post the legislative reviews from the major professional organizations as soon as they release them.
Update (4/23/08): Told you I would. The Washington Association of School Administrators here; the State School Director's Association here.
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