Bridge the Gap Mitigates Educational Budget Cuts

State lawmakers have reached a deal for a two-year budget that cuts teacher pay by almost 2 percent and cuts salaries for other K-12 and state employees by 3 percent.

The $32.2 billion budget for 2011-13, which lawmakers must still approve before the special session ends Wednesday, also drops funding to reduce class sizes for kindergarten through fourth grade.

“This budget was probably the hardest to write in decades,” said Rep. Ross Hunter (D-Medina), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, in a statement Tuesday about the budget deal. “The slow speed of the economic recovery is still having a significant impact on our state’s revenues and we didn’t have the prospect of any help from the federal government this year.”

“We worked hard to protect our basic priorities,” Hunter continued. “Educating children is the paramount duty of the state and we do the best job we can. We maintain health care for children and the disabled, and we mitigate some of the cuts in higher education.”

Under the budget, certificated teachers and classified staff salaries are cut 1.9 percent, while administrative staff get a 3 percent cut like other state employees.

Funding is dropped to reduce K-4 class sizes, meaning average class sizes for kindergarten through third grade will rise to 25.23 children, up from 23.11, and for fourth grade to 27, up from 26.15. High-poverty schools get a break if more than half of their students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

“This final budget is a compromise between the senate and house proposals,” said Dean Mack, the Chief Financial Officer of the Mercer Island School District. “Every dollar we have to cut from our budget is a program cut for students.”

This all has an effect on Mercer Island Schools and their budget, by creating a deficit in the Mercer Island School District of at least $1.7 million. According to the Mercer Island Schools Foundation, this gap forces the MISD to consider many drastic alternatives, which includes up to 20 teacher layoffs and increased class sizes. The MISF and the Mercer Island Parent Teacher Association (MIPTA) created a “Bridge the Gap” program three years ago to deal with the budget shortfalls. “We are trying to mitigate the effect of the state budget and fund teachers while keeping class sizes as low as possible,” said Penny Yantis, executive director of the MISF.

To date the Bridge the Gap Task Force has raised $814,000, via fundraisers like April’s “Breakfast of Champions,” which raised $644,000 to help bridge the gap between what monies the state is sending to the schools and the monies they need.

“The good news is that 13 teachers have been saved, but the bad news is seven teacher’s jobs remain unfunded,” said Yantis.  “Without successful completion of the fundraising campaign every school in our district is at risk of losing teachers: 3 elementary teachers, 2 middle school and 2 high school teaching positions will not be funded for the 2011-2012 school year if we fall short of the goal.”

Yantis noted that only 37 percent of families with children in the Mercer Island Schools have donated to the Bridge the Gap campaign, which runs through June 10.

“The funding gap represents about $500 per student, and we are doing everything we can to spread the word that we need help, with emails, school listserves and neighbor-to-neighbor conversations—it’s a real grassroots effort,” said Yantis. “If we want the education our community desires and our kids deserve, it’s our responsibility to bridge that funding gap now.”

To donate to help “Bridge the Gap” visit the MISF website, www.mercerislandschoolsfoundation.com/donate