Meridian making staff cuts

Calvin Bratt
Tribune editor

  LAUREL -- Office and teaching staff may have to be reduced in the Meridian School District to deal with a budget shortfall of at least $460,000 for the current school year, Superintendent Tim Yeomans announced last week.
  Enrollment in the district's four schools is down 44 students from last year, and an additional decline of 32 students is projected for the 2008-09 academic year, Yeomans says in a district website message April 29. Lower enrollment means less state funding.
  Also, the district faces state-mandated but not fully funded cost-of-living adjustments and higher retirement contributions, plus the loss of Promoting Academic Success money that was supposed to help improve WASL scores, the superintendent says.
  "We are making steps to modify every aspect of the overall district program to realize cost savings before we impact staffing levels," Yeoman wrote. These steps include schedule adjustments and more day-to-day efficiency in operations.
  Yeomans called the need for budget alignment "immediate" and he has recommended a staff reduction plan to the Meridian School Board.
  "Situations such as these are never easy. We value deeply the contributions that every member of our district team makes to the education of our children," Yeoman said in his statement.
  On April 24 and 25, staff members who may be impacted were spoken to. Those affected first will be "retire-rehire" and "leave replacement" employees. Following bargained agreement, next will be ones on a "provisional continuing" basis and last will be "tenured continuing" employees.
  Interviewed this week, Yeomans said that a 40 percent increase in diesel fuel prices for buses actually pushes the Meridian budget shortfall closer to $500,000.
  Cuts will affect all four district schools, he said.
  The drop in enrollment -- about 100 for Meridian in the last three years -- could be foreseen demographically and will gradually be reversed, Yeomans said.
  "Meridian has tried very hard to maintain programs even when enrollment has gone down," he said. "We're maintaining all the things the community values."
  Some reductions in classified (teacher and library aide, custodian, bus driver and food worker) staff were made in 2005-06.
  This spring, there may be "some movement within our overall staffing picture" to minimize the impact of staff reductions, Yeomans said in his online message.
  The Nooksack Valley School District is right in the midst of making budget decisions for next year, said Marta Rinehart, business manager.
  It's hoped that staffing cuts will not be needed in 2008-09, and that attrition and "shifting some people around" will suffice, she said.
  But Nooksack Valley, like all districts, is definitely impacted by unfunded mandates from the state, Rinehart said. "We're looking at probably $200,000 that we have to find. (Superintendent) Mark Johnson has a list of the targeted areas that we may have to cut into," she said.