School District Leaders Slam State Senate Budget Cut Proposals

officials are calling state Senate budget cut plans an "encroachment" on Washington's basic education requirement, adding opposition to the proposal to deal with a state shortfall of more than $5 billion.

Their words followed the Tuesday night unveiling of a Senate budget proposal that would trim hundreds of millions of dollars by essentially cutting teachers' pay 3 percent and withholding money to schools for students' unexcused absences.

(Editor's note: The unexcused absence language has been removed since this story was originally posted.)

"While I certainly understand the state's difficult fiscal position, this proposal goes too far, and does not reflect our values," Lake Washington Superintendent Chip Kimball wrote to his staff in a Thursday email.

Lawmakers from the Senate and state House need to meet to resolve differences in their respective budget plans and the proposal from Gov. Chris Gregoire. That compromise budget bill would then go to Gregoire for her review before the legislation becomes law.

Last week, the state House released its budget proposal, which would eliminate money to help reduce crowding in kindergarten through fourth grade classes.

The Washington Education Association, a union that represents teachers, believes more students would be crammed into classrooms and that schools will have fewer teachers should the proposed cuts go into effect, said spokesman Rich Wood.

His group estimates the Senate budget cuts would total more than $2 billion for kindergarten through 12th grade students — or $2,000 per student.

"We know that some cuts are unavoidable, but these budget cuts are going to hurt our state's kids and jeopardize their futures," he said in a statement. "There's no way around it."

WEA also believes that the House budget proposal "freezes the salary schedule" for teachers, he added. 

Lake Washington administrators are working on the upcoming budget but the uncertainty in Olympia makes it difficult, said district spokeswoman Kathryn Reith. The legislative session is scheduled to end on April 24.

"We don't know which of the three versions will predominate. We have a meeting on Friday to figure out how we approach our budgeting," Reith said Thursday. "We don't want to end up scaring people and planning for cuts that (we) don't need to make."

Editor's note: The Seattle Times reports that Gov. Chris Gregoire said that a special legislative session will be needed to finish the state budget process. That process is expected to last longer than the original completion date of April 24. Also, the state Senate has dropped language which would penalize school districts should students play hooky, according to The Times. This note was added on the morning of Saturday, April 16 to reflect the new timeline and the removal of that language.