NSD Budget Cuts Were Deeper Than Necessary
If your family budget was inadequate to meet your basic needs, and was then further reduced due to a layoff or cuts in work hours, what would you do? A) Cut your spending, but use some of your savings to limit the extent of painful cuts? Or, B) Cut your spending AND make even more painful cuts by putting more of your paycheck into savings?
If you were the Northshore School Board last Fall (October 2008), you decided to do B. In the midst of ongoing and anticipated State cuts to schools, the Board decided to change its policy, and to increase the amount Northshore sets aside in the Unreserved Reserves—the funds left at the end of each school year in the Ending Fund Balance that are not designated for anything. (They are in addition to $1 million set aside for risk and inventory replacement.)
In other words, the Board decided to put more money in the bank instead of in classrooms and compensation. They passed a new Policy which required a minimum of 3% to be set aside (2.75% this year, and 3% starting next year), an increase from the 2% that had been Board policy. NSEA, NESPA, and NEOPA opposed this, and spoke out at Board meetings. Northshore had never experienced a financial problem that necessitated putting more of our limited funds in the bank. The change in policy was and is detrimental to students, staff, and our schools.
NEW BOARD POLICY AND INACCURATE INFO LED TO DEEPER CUTS THAN NECESSARY THIS YEAR.
The School Board then proceeded to cut programs and laid off classified staff (i.e., Junior High Deans) far deeper than they needed to. This was due not only to this new Policy, but also because the administration had not provided the Board with accurate information about the funds that would be left at the end of the school year. Read on…..
Last Spring, the District went through a painful process of identifying about $5 million in cuts. NSEA, NESPA, and NEOPA agreed that cuts were necessary, but argued that $5 million in cuts was excessive.
We spoke at the School Board meetings and handed out flyers at the public budget meetings urging the Board to, “Limit layoffs and program cuts by using more reserves.” We stated, “Northshore’s budgeted Ending Funding Balance (EFB) for this year—$9.1 million—is the highest since 1997-1998 as a proportion of our budget. The actual Ending Fund Balance will likely be higher. The actual EFB has been higher than the budgeted EFB in each of the last 8 years. Based on a comparison of monthly EFB in each of the past 5 years, the WEA Research Department projected in early March that the EFB will be about $1.2 million higher than budgeted: $10.3 million.”
So, the School Board made cuts based on an administration projection of having $9.1 million left at the end of 08-09. And the WEA Research Department projected $10.3 million. So, with the 2008-2009 financial books now closed and made public, what was the actual Ending Fund Balance? It was $10.7 million. That’s $1.6 million more than the District had projected. In other words, the School Board cut programs and laid off classified staff far deeper than they needed to, because the administration had not provided them with accurate information. And because they ignored the information we provided to them.
WHY DOES THE SCHOOL BOARD MAKE DECISIONS WITHOUT ACCURATE INFO?
Unfortunately, last Spring was not an anomaly. Northshore’s budget cuts the previous year (including Nurses and Library Techs) were far deeper than necessary. Why is it, year after year, that the WEA Research Department is able to more accurately forecast the District’s Ending Fund Balance than the NSD administration? Although it is far easier, and less risky, for the administration to bank a large reserve, Northshore is not a bank.
We believe that the School Board’s first obligation is to fund our schools, and to provide decent compensation for staff. We believe that when cuts are necessary, or when staff are told that they must work another year for inadequate pay—in other words, when people are damaged—the School Board needs to deliberate with complete and accurate information. Our community pays taxes to provide the best possible schools—not to bank the funds.
Inadequate State funding makes it more important than ever to get this right. Three of Northshore’s five School Board members will be new, starting in two weeks. NSEA has begun conversations with the Superintendent and the School Board to improve the process of projecting the Ending Fund Balance so that the Board can make informed decisions each Spring about budget cuts and bargaining parameters.
