Yelm school district holds community meeting after 120 teacher layoffs were announced

YELM, Wash. — On Thursday evening, parents, teachers, and students faced the Yelm School Board for the first time after more than 120 teachers were told their jobs were on the chopping block. That’s more than a third of the district’s teaching staff.

The superintendent says they’re being forced to make deep cuts, after two levy failures this year.  The most recent levy would have brought in 15 million dollars to the district.

“Unfortunately, that’s the only vehicle we have between what we need to fully fund education and what we get from the state,” says Superintendent Chris Woods, about the need for levies.

He tells KIRO 7; state funding isn’t enough to balance their budget. On Yelm’s district website, it states that 79-percent of the district’s funding comes from the state. Another seven percent comes from federal grants.

State lawmakers are required to adequately fund ‘basic education’ each year. That includes district funds for core teaching staff.

“We have fairly strong constitutional language that says, ‘every school district will receive resources to provide an ample basic education’ and then enrichment levies are designed to just add additional services on top of an ample system,” says UW professor of education finance and policy. But adds, “For a multitude of reasons, school districts are facing some financial constraints. And you may see times when they have to draw on different accounts to try to meet the needs of students.”

Knight explains that enrichment levies are often viewed as supplemental funding for things like sports, band, the arts; activities that enrich a student’s school experience.

For that reason, teacher Kathryn Cullum believes a failed levy should impact extra curriculars, not teachers.

“There are community members that voted based on what the levy language said, and they voted no. But now they’re trying to figure out why these cuts are happening,” says Cullum, who also serves as president of the Yelm Teachers Association.

A pamphlet sent to local voters read, ‘The taxes collected by this levy will be used to pay expenses of educational programs and operations that are not fully funded by the State, including special education, nurses, counselors, school resource officers and safety staff, graduation readiness, technology, athletics, extracurricular activities, and curriculum materials and training.’

Cullum notes that the pamphlet doesn’t mention teachers. Now, she says in addition to the potential cuts, local families are left with major concerns about how state funding is being used by the board.

“Is it that they aren’t using the money from the state the way it was meant to be intended or is it there’s not enough money from the state?” questions Cullum. “When it really comes down to it, there’s a lack of trust a lack of transparency at how these tax dollars are spent.”

Woods tells KIRO 7 that despite the notices given to teachers, he hopes that the district will be able to save many of those teaching jobs. The Yelm school board plans to finalize their budget at the end of June.

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