BLAINE — Blaine School Board members directed the superintendent to prepare a reduced educational plan in anticipation of $2.5 million in cuts to the district’s budget during a Monday, March 25 meeting.
With changes to the state funding model impacting Blaine’s funding and student enrollment trending down, the district does not expect to have “adequate resources” in the 2024–25 school year to continue operating as it did this year, according to a business office report.
Superintendent Christopher Granger said district staff anticipates issuing preliminary notices on Thursday, March 28 to staff whose jobs may be impacted by this reduced educational plan. The final plan will come to the school board for a vote at its April meeting.
In the business office report, the district said state funding increases to materials costs, special education and classified staffing allocations are “welcome and helpful,” but will not “address the extent of the district’s funding shortfall for 24–25.”
At the Monday school board meeting, board members also considered a resolution that would direct the superintendent to ask the two staff unions to agree to reopen bargaining to eliminate pay raises for the upcoming year. The motion was tabled to allow board members more time to review the potential consequences.
School board member Ben Lazarus introduced the resolution on the basis that total raises this year will cost the district about $1.6 million. Of that, $1.1 million will go to teachers, $300,000 will go to classified staff — which includes paraeducators and transportation, cafeteria, custodial and maintenance staff — and $200,000 will go to administrators.
Shane Levetsovitis, a bus driver and chapter president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the union for classified staff in the Blaine School District, said in a public comment that the union would not agree to any pay freezes for classified staff.
Levetsovitis said he recognized the budgetary challenges created by changes to state funding, but that could not be addressed by pay impacts to classified staff. He said because of cuts to classified staff last year, secretaries are doing more work than ever, buses are overcrowded and nutrition staff is feeding more students.
“I’m also asking that the board does not approve any budget reduction plan that impacts classified staff at all. We bled hard last year, so we’re about done with that,” he said. He asked the board to look harder at cuts for administrators and in the district office.
Lazarus said the board is limited in the cuts it’s able to make, and thought a pay freeze would be a creative solution to avoid staffing cuts.
“The solution that I see is more boots on the ground,” he said. “Not better paid for the boots that are left.”
Levetsovitis called that opinion “short-sighted.”
“A pay freeze for an administrator may mean a conversation in their household in a difference in vacation,” he said. “A pay freeze for classified staff is, in some cases, does the power stay on?”
Granger said for this to happen, both the district and the union would have to agree to reopen the contract. But once the contract is open, the union could make non-financial asks too.
New District 4 Director Ryan Swinburnson said he was concerned about the “unintended consequences” of the motion.
“So we [would be] directing the superintendent to negotiate potentially all aspects of the agreement,” he said. “That’s something that needs to be considered probably a little bit longer than five minutes.”
Board members tabled the motion until a future meeting.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
