Board tenatively approves final budget
After numerous work sessions, community meetings and a careful review of all the options, the Kelso School Board approved more than $3 million in budget reductions for the 2009-10 school year.

“Every cut was extremely difficult, and I know these cuts will impact students and families,” said Superintendent Glenys Hill. “Our goal was to make reductions with the least impact on the classroom.”

Although the district originally projected a shortfall of $2.6 million, the projected deficit grew to $3 million as the district received more information about its various funding sources and expenses. In particular, the budget deficit for the state of Washington ballooned from a projected $5 billion in December to a projected $9 billion in March. At the same time, the district received some relief in specific programs from federal stimulus monies.

The loss of state revenue put a greater burden on the district to keep class sizes as low as possible. Hill said class sizes could go up one student at the elementary and possibly two at the secondary level.

“We are fully committed to the high quality of instruction that we have always seen in Kelso,” Hill said. “While some co-curricular opportunities may be lost and some elective opportunities curtailed, we will continue to make every effort to meet the needs of all children in Kelso School District.”

List of agreed-upon budget reductions (PDF)

Making administrative cuts
For the past several years, the Kelso School District has been able to absorb budget cuts primarily by reducing administrative and operations costs. However, this year’s budget shortfall left few areas of administration where the district could realistically cut without significantly disrupting day-to-day operations.

Currently, there are about 20 district and building administrators who are paid through basic education funding. Those administrators oversee Kelso’s 700 certificated and classified employees.

Since 1998, budget expenditures for central administration have been reduced by 9.86%, while expenditures for building administration has been reduced by 3.92% in relation to total district expenditures. Over the same time period, funding for teaching activities and support has increased by 36.63%.

It should also be noted that the percentage of funds spent on administration in Kelso (12.6%) is below average compared to other school districts of similar size in Washington state. The percentage is also well below the state average for all school districts.

That said, the school board approved a number of administrative cuts for the 2009-10 school year, and the district will continue to make administrative cuts wherever feasible.

Expenditures of Kelso School District to comparable districts (PDF)