Try Try Again to Balance the Budget
The Seattle Public School District has proposed a new budget to the board and Seattlest is guessing that it doesn't include any school closings. Instead, a variety of one-time financial sources will help bring a little balance to the budget, at least for the time being. Let's postpone those closings one more year, shall we?
According to the PI the money will come from the following sources:
- An extra $2.6 million in levy dollars the district is able to collect, under a change made during the last Legislative session.
- A savings of $2 million from the district's new bus contract.
- About $900,000 carried from last year's Initiative 728 funding, state money used to reduce class sizes and make other improvements.
- The use of $2.9 million in reserves and money carried forward from previous grants.
- The use of $274,000 in undesignated, unreserved funds
In exchange for the lives of some schools, the leash will be tightened on the autonomy Seattle public schools have traditionally enjoyed.
From the Seattle Times:
That autonomy, hailed as a catalyst for innovation when the district began to decentralize in the mid-1990s, may not be working to help students learn better because the money's not being used effectively in some instances, Chief Academic Officer Steve Wilson told the School Board yesterday.
The board will cloister Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the new budget and release white smoke from the chimney of 2445 Third Ave. S when they've decided to accept it. The public can chime in between 6 and 8 pm Monday at that same district headquarter location.
