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Camas school board approves substantial budget cuts in light of ‘financial emergency’

Reductions include 10 percent of the district’s certificated staff, which includes teachers

By Kelly Moyer, Columbian Regional News Editor
Published: January 29, 2025, 11:25am

In response to an expected budget deficit between $13 million and $16 million, the Camas school board on Monday unanimously approved a reduction-in-force resolution allowing district leaders to make substantial budget cuts ahead of the 2025-26 school year.

The resolution will allow Superintendent John Anzalone to create a 2025-26 school year budget that eliminates about 10 percent of the district’s certificated staff, which includes teachers; reduces the total number of classified, noneducator support staff by about 13 percent; and cuts the district’s central administrative positions by about 29 percent.

According to the resolution, the Camas School District’s “financial emergency” stems from declining enrollment, increased staffing and operations costs, loss of revenues, and the depletion of one-time COVID relief funds from the federal government.

“This is something we’ve been anticipating coming for years,” board member Corey McEnry said this week. “We’ve pushed it off as long as we can — exhausting our fund balance, tightening where we can, advocating at the state level for fixes. … We are short of any miracle actions coming out of the Legislature, and we have exhausted our options here.”

The resolution also directs Anzalone to identify other possible cuts, including nonemployee reductions to the school district’s athletic and extracurricular programs, as well as its curricular, building and support service operating budgets.

During Monday’s meeting, all of the board members — with the exception of board President Tracey Malone, who was absent — expressed sadness about the impending budget cuts.

“We can talk about numbers and charts, but we’re talking about people and their careers and their livelihoods,” board Vice President Connie Hennessey said. “We’ve exhausted all options and pushed it out as far as we could, hoping there would be a miracle from the Legislature. … This is not the school system I want, that anybody wants. We know what it looks like to have a great, functioning system. We need our legislators to give us the resources to staff our classrooms with great teachers, paraeducators … and resources to give our children a 21st century education.”

McEnry, who grew up in Camas and works as a Hockinson High School music educator, said he and other Camas school board members did not take lightly the need to implement districtwide budget cuts.

“We really can’t control our revenues. Those are determined by enrollment and state apportionment. The only lever we really have left to use here (is our expenditures),” McEnry said. “It sounds hollow, but the five of us — this is not something we look forward to doing. We want what’s best for this district. As an educator myself, and someone who has lived in this community my entire life, I hope that you know what a heavy decision this is for all of us up here.”

Board members Bamini Pathmanathan and Matthew McBride echoed McEnry’s and Hennessey’s sentiments.

“I have full confidence we will make the right choices and maintain … focus on the students,” said McBride, the board’s newest member. “But I know it’s going to be difficult days ahead.”

Pathmanathan said she is “hopeful we’ll all work on this together and find a solution.”

Anzalone said Monday that he and other district leaders will work with the district’s human resources department over the next two weeks and will notify individual educators, administrators and support staff impacted by the budget cuts Feb. 7.

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Anzalone said he plans to meet with school principals Feb. 7 and Feb. 18 to figure out the best way forward.

“We will gather building principals to see, now that the dust is beginning to settle, how can we support your schools?” Anzalone said. “We’ll be leaner at the central office, so how can we still support (principals)? We will continue to have those talks through the rest of the school year to tie up loose ends.”

Anzalone said district leaders have been talking with state legislators, including 17th District Reps. David Stuebe and Kevin Waters and Sen. Paul Harris, to advocate for more state funding for K-12 schools — especially for special education, fully funded transitional kindergarten programs, and materials, supplies and operating costs.

“We’re not going to see a fix this session,” Anzalone said. “But there is pressure building to boost Washington’s school funding.”

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Columbian Regional News Editor