State ed budget could reverse school layoffs

Whitman County teachers and classified staff who were laid off in the past month could see their jobs back with the legislature Tuesday approving a tentative state education budget.

School administrators expect it will take several days to process the new figures and determine how those figures will change local school budgets.

Citing a tight state budget, school districts around the state issued scores of Reductions in Force notices to both teachers and classified employees in the past month. However, both superintendents and ESD 101 officials have said that the final state budget figures could reverse those layoffs with some staff being brought back.

Ninth District Rep. Joe Schmick told the Gazette Tuesday the budget that was announced was still a tentative proposal and listed several major changes to state education funding.

The new budget calls for a 1.9 percent cut to all teachers and classified staff salaries in the state and a three percent cut to all school administrative staff. Funding that helped keep classroom sizes down for kindergarten through third grade also saw steep cuts to the tune of $170 million, according to Schmick.

Levy equalization- the bastion of state education funding for many rural school districts- remained untouched. Schmick said he and many other legislators, including those from the west side, advocated strongly for levy equalization.

“Levy equalization was not affected. We were able to keep that off limits and we worked on that all session,” said Schmick.

Superintendents and principals of eastern Washington have lobbied hard in the past year for the state to keep levy equalization untouched. The state program helps districts with low property tax rates.

Levy equalization works by the state matching a certain amount of funds school districts raise from voter-approved property tax levies.

This is important in Whitman County, because property taxes in rural areas are consistently low. Consequently, proceeds from levy rates on property taxes in these areas are traditionally low. With levy equalization, the state makes up for the low property taxes by matching what districts raise in their levy.

Both legislators Schmick and Rep. Susan Fagan said the proposal, which came out Tuesday, could change by the end of the special session Wednesday night. Neither could say for certain as of Tuesday if the legislature would need a second special session.