Where Are We At With Budgeting?

Hello again MLEA Members,

We wanted to share with you some thoughts about the impending school district budget.

As part of their budget cuts the state reduced the number of Learning Improvement Days by one, which means that next year your contract will have 181 days instead of the past 182. The District has committed to come up with enough money to pay for the lost day on a supplemental contract, meaning that you'll still receive 182 days of pay. That means no loss of salary next year.

We've also come through the process with per diem completely intact. The state didn't "freeze" the salary schedule, meaning that you'll also still receive your usual step-and-lane increases if you haven't topped out on the schedule yet.

The practical effect, then: no teacher should lose salary. Many teachers will receive a raise.

But what about jobs?

There are several provisional employees in the district who have received non-renewal notices, and we're working hard to make sure that as many of them as possible are brought back. We've had a couple of resignations that help in this regard. It's still an on-going process, and while the impact is felt mainly in two buildings it affects every single one of us through class size and services that we provide the kids.

Since our most recent collaborative budgeting there's been quite a bit of change. An anticipated hit to levy equalization didn't happen, and we've had some more retirements announced. There's also a bussing/schedule change coming through that has the potential to save the district money.

Our view, then, is that the collaborative budgeting process isn't finished. We feel very strongly that the numbers we built the budget around are no longer the numbers that reflect what next year could be, and we look forward to engaging the district more on what next year's program will look like.

Please contact a member of the exec board with any questions.

Thanks,

--Ryan, for the MLEA Exec Board--

Why Political Action Matters

Hi MLEA Members,

It really is true--that government which governs best is that government which governs least!

Let me set the stage, though--when the legislature adjourned two weeks back they didn't get all of the bills passed that they needed. One of those left begging was HB1776, which dealt specifically with education spending in this year's budget. It's the bill which would have raised the levy lid for many districts (not ours, but about 70 statewide); it also would have been devastating to Levy Equalization, a key source of funding for small and property-poor school districts like our own.

So that last Sunday was buzzing along, and then 1776 comes up for a vote in the House, and everything grinds to a halt, and it's all about the cut to levy equalization. Many of our local legislators (Rep. Shelly Short and Rep. Joel Kretz out of the 7th; Rep. Joe Schmick and Rep. Don Cox out of the 9th; Rep. Larry Crouse of the 4th; all of them, not for nothin', Republicans) made beautiful, impassioned floor speeches on why Levy Equalization mattered; Rep. Schmick actually mentioned the MLSD on the floor.

For almost 2 hours they went on, and then the bill was inexplicably tabled. The House GOP broke out in applause. Looked good.

The concern, though, was that if a special session was called that HB1776 could get pulled back onto the floor and passed. Now that the special session has been taken off the table the state will have to find the money for levy equalization out of the state reserves. For us, that's a $180,000 difference.

Your phone calls, emails, and contact made the difference. Levy Equalization would have been very, very easy for legislators from Seattle to cut, but teacher's voices persuaded them not to. Thank You to everyone who contacted their legislators--your voice made a tangible, definite difference for us right here at home.

I'll have more to come about the district budgeting process soon, as well as the WEA Representative Assembly this week.

Thank you, and enjoy these last days of spring!

--Ryan--