President's Newsletter for October 26th

Hello MLEA Members,

I hope that you've all had a great first two months of the school year! I wanted to share some of the thing that I've come across recently to keep you informed as to what is going on both here and Medical Lake and beyond. If you have any questions, please feel free to call or email me!

State Budget Blues: Last year's legislative session was a bloodbath. The School Reform Act passed, which is a conversation for another day, but what impacted us the most locally were the $1.5 billion dollars in cuts made to the education budget. During collaborative budgeting with the administrators and the PSE we made more than $700,000 in cuts, which cost us good people (Joe Benzo, Nathan Geyer) and forced others to change buildings or work in multiple buildings.

This year could be worse. Actually, let's not equivocate: this year will be worse.

Problem number one is that we're still experiencing the declining enrollment trend that we've been living with for better than 5 years now. During budgeting we built around a projection of 1,980 FTE (full time enrollment), which was about 20 kids below where we ended last year. Usually we come really, really close to that projected number.

This year, we missed it by more than 50. Our September count came in at ~1,924 kids. If you estimate about $5,000 per kid in state funding, that means a $250,000 hole that we weren't planning for.

Why did that happen? I've heard a couple of different theories. #1 has to do with the housing on base still being in such a state of flux that families avoid living there, which means we lose them from Medical Lake as they go to Cheney, Spokane, and other surrounding districts. Theory #2 is that we have many, many more kids participating in Running Start this year, potentially because families that are being pinched by the economy are looking at the possibility of free college credits and taking that option far more seriously than they did in the past.

There is some good news--the District received a back impact aid payment that came in over the summer, which covers the current shortfall and keeps us at even keel. Without it, things could be a lot worse.

So there's the past and the present--what's the future going to hold? Right now the number being tossed around Olympia is that we're looking at a billion dollar plus deficit that will have to be rectified come January when the legislature goes back in session; the chatter coming out of some of the professional school organizations is that the deficit very well could grow to $2 billion dollars before it's all said and done. An advantage that we have is something called "Maintenance of Effort", which was language in the stimulus bill that says that education can't be cut to anything less than the level it was at in 2006. What's chilling is what they can cut, which is shown in this slide from the Senate Ways and Means Committee (go to page 5):

• They're looking at cutting what is paid in levy equalization, which would save the state $250 million dollars. This year, Medical Lake is receiving $1.4 million dollars in levy equalization funds.
  
• The "K-4 enhancement" is money provided by the state to lower class size in kindergarten through 4th grade. Last year the Senate proposed that cut as well, but it didn't go through--if it had, it would have meant a $275,000 hit.
  
• What's left of I-728 is worth $266,000 to us this year; it's also known as the "Student Achievement Fund" money.

That's $1,941,000 in cuts that are very likely to happen. Put another way, that's 10% of the district budget. Put yet another way (and take this with a grain of salt, because it would never happen like this, but still) if you consider the average teacher's salary plus benefits to cost about $75,000, that would be almost 26 teaching positions.

This is why I worry. Throw the proposed cuts to Lakeland Village and last year's scare about Pine Lodge, each facilities that employ many MLSD residents, and the local economy starts to look pretty intimidating as well.

I'm sharing this with all of you because I want you to know that the Association is fully on top of things as best we can be, given the uncertainty of the numbers and just what the legislature will do. This Thursday afternoon Carol Tyson and I are attending a workshop on how to better understand the RIF language in the contract. In two weeks the WEA is holding their annual collective bargaining conference in Federal Way, and we'll get a representative sent over to that as well to make sure we get all the information we can.

These are going to be challenging times. If you have any suggestions please talk with me, a member of the exec board, or your building rep--this is your Association, and any input is greatly appreciated.

With thanks,

--Ryan--