School districts facing crunch time on budgets

o Vancouver Public Schools: Ad hoc budget panel meets 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Robert C. Bates Center for Educational Leadership, 2921 Falk Road, on Feb. 23, March 9 and March 23. Observers welcome, but no public comment taken.

For more: http://portalsso.vansd.org/portal/page?_pageid=153,2178396&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

o Evergreen Public Schools: Ad hoc budget panel scheduled to meet Wednesday 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Green Complex board room, district headquarters, 13501 N.E. 28th St. Observers welcome, but no public comment taken.

Final recommendations due by next Evergreen school board meeting, Feb. 22.

Public budget forums will follow, 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the school auditoriums: Tuesday, March 1, Evergreen High School; Thursday, March 10, Mountain View High School; Wednesday, March 23, Union High School; Thursday, March 31, Heritage High School.

Evergreen also will host a live cable television-Internet Web cast from 6 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 16,with Superintendent John Deeder and Chief Operating Officer Mike Merlino.

For more: http://www.evergreenps.org/AboutEPS/Pages/ProposedCuts

Releasedfor2011-2012.aspx

Inside quiet meeting rooms at Vancouver and Evergreen district headquarters, serious conversation is taking place that could rock the school days of thousands of students.

A pair of ad hoc committees have worked to brainstorm and prioritize budget reductions that could affect every classroom and campus.

Vancouver selected 10 civic and business leaders for its dialogue; Evergreen recruited seven school parents, three employees and a Clark College official to help wrestle with tough choices.

Their recommendations form one piece of the puzzle to be solved later this spring by school boards that must adopt final budget plans on the best advice of administrators and others.

Both districts face worst-case reductions in state funding of $16 million to 17 million. The amount rides on economic forecasts and cost-cutting choices by state legislators in Olympia who must plug a nearly $5 billion, two-year state spending shortfall.

Few easy targets remain, after cuts made in previous years. What’s left are mostly unsavory changes, all likely to rankle someone.

Loaded ‘table’

Among larger ideas floated in the Vancouver district huddles, taking place on alternate Wednesdays:

• With loss of state funding to reduce classroom size, perhaps it’s best to push right to the max, under teacher union contracts. A cut of about 80 teachers, spread across all schools and grades, would increase class size by two or three students, on average — ranging from the mid-20s, to the mid-30s in higher grades.

• Consolidating those classes would open new capacity. Is it time to abandon most portable classrooms that cost about $10,000 each to rent per year?

Or even to close a few schools where enrollment has shrunk?

Could the Vancouver School of Arts & Academics absorb many more classes and students, to improve district efficiency?

• More students would hike to school if bus routes are scaled back, or maybe dress warmly if thermostats are turned down a degree or two to shave energy costs.

• Employee salary and benefit plans should be re-addressed, committee members said.

There are no sacred cows, said Elson Strahan, Fort Vancouver National Trust president, who chairs the panel. He implored members to broach any topic, no matter how sensitive. “If it’s not, and we don’t raise it and put it on the table, the citizens will ask, why not?” he said.

The Vancouver district has held school site meetings with staff and parent-teacher groups to solicit ideas. It posted a website survey tool (which expired Sunday) to gather more input.

Convening free-wheeling debate by business and civic leaders lifts perspective and expectations to help leaders make sound choices, said school board President Edri Geiger, who observed the latest gathering.

“It’s good. It’s nice to have this group of people here, because they’re digging down,” Geiger said. “They’re giving us a different viewpoint.”

Strahan & Co. have now requested dollar figures to attach to potential reforms, to better sort which would bring more bang for the buck. The district had held off, favoring robust debate on program merits and community viewpoints before diving into pragmatic slicing to reach precise budget goals.

On the block

It’s a different approach at Evergreen, where the district weeks ago publicly unveiled a chopping-block menu, with dollar amounts attached (http://www.evergreenps.org/AboutEPS/Pages/ProposedCutsReleasedfor2011-2012.aspx).

There are familiar cuts posed by the same process used by Evergreen Superintendent John Deeder the past two years to identify expendable programs or personnel — plus new reductions.

Among 41 options posted: Cut as many as 130 teachers and allow class size to rise, to save $10.1 million; eliminate school librarians ($2.3 million), fifth-grade band and orchestra ($500,000), drug and alcohol intervention specialists ($450,000) or uniformed law officers at several campuses ($350,000).

Deferring technology upgrades would save $2 million, as could shuffling special education service. Elementary school aides could be trimmed ($820,000), as could high school counselors ($330,000), curriculum managers ($400,000) and many secretarial and other nonteaching hours or jobs, for further savings.

Evergreen’s advisory panelists have turned in individual priority lists. They are scheduled to meet Wednesday, before giving the school board a group recommendation on Feb. 22.

That’s in order to hand Deeder a belt-tightening script before March 1, when he hosts the first of four public budget forums scheduled that month at Evergreen high schools.

‘Time to listen’

Ad hoc committee sessions have drawn 20 or so observers; lobbying by concerned groups has been vigorous, as to be expected, Deeder said.

“This is the time to listen to people, but also look at the big picture,” he told school board members last week.

For school parents and other community members, the window to be heard while options are still malleable is fast closing.

There’s the one remaining Evergreen panel meeting, and the four high school forums. Vancouver’s ad hoc group meets again Feb. 23, March 9 and, finally, on March 23, before it must submit its plan for budget pruning.

Weighing on everyone — all Clark County school districts face similar, tough decisions — is the critical next Washington state revenue forecast, from which legislators will take their budget-writing cue this spring. That update is scheduled for March 17.

Only then will budget targets and appropriate reduction levels come into clear focus, with all the ensuing agonizing.

“This next three months is going to be bumpy,” Deeder cautioned the Evergreen school board.

Howard Buck: 360-735-4515 or howard.buck@columbian.com.