PORT TOWNSEND — Immediate cost-cutting measures are necessary to prevent the Port Townsend School District from depleting its reserves to a dangerous level, the district’s business manager said Wednesday.
“We are certainly looking at everything we can do to make this projection not as bad as it is right now,” said Amy Khile at a meeting of the budget and finance committee, a volunteer advisory group with no authority that provides advice to the district.
“There are things we can do to make it better immediately, but a lot of it is long-term planning,” Khile said.
At the current rate, the district will finish the fiscal year in August with $85,000 in reserves, which Khile said is a dangerously low level.
“Our revenues are going down, but our expenses are not,” she said.
The shortfall for the 2010-2011 school year is $350,000, Khile said.
The projected shortfall for 2011-2012 is $500,000.
“The primary goal is to get through the year,” Superintendent Gene Laes said.
“We are facing the most dire economic times that Port Townsend has ever experienced,” Laes added.
“Most of the problem comes from a loss of state revenue and the state’s effort to recoup its own financial deficit,” Laes said, adding that declining enrollment also is a factor.
In last month’s 2010 budget agreement, the state cut K-12 education by $60 million. Lawmakers also are wrestling with a projected $5 billion shortfall in the upcoming two-year budget.
Each student brings in about $5,200 in state subsidies.
The district’s current budget is $1.1 million, 80 percent of which is payroll.
“This isn’t all doom-and-gloom, but the situation is not good,” Laes told the committee, which includes community members Tom Thiersch, Bill LeMaster, Julie Jablonski and Nik Lance.
“We are going to have to start doing business differently,” Laes said.
“It doesn’t mean that we are lowering our standards, but it’s important that we get the word out to the community that we are in trouble.”
The immediate budget-related plans include determining whether programs can be moved in order to become more efficient and to finalize the next year’s staffing projections.
Public input on the budget is scheduled for the April 11 School Board meeting.
Final budget recommendations are scheduled for the April 25 meeting.
The School Board meets at 6 p.m. in the board room at the Lincoln Building, 450 Fir St.
One suggested solution was to evaluate the alternative-education programs, ICE and OPEPO, and decide how many students they benefit while balanced with their costs to the district.
“There are a lot of virtual learning options that are available today that did not exist when these alternative programs were developed,” Thiersch said.
“These virtual solutions may be suited to the alternative students.”
Another immediate solution suggested was to consolidate bus routes and work out a partnership with Jefferson Transit to save fuel and cut transportation costs.
One long-term solution would be to recruit a grant writer, which would give the district a currently untapped revenue stream.
Jablonski suggested the district make better use of the finance committee, which has met three times since Laes became superintendent.
“There are a lot of tools we can use that you might not be aware of,” she said.
“Those of us on the committee can use these tools to harness spreadsheet power in order to develop different scenarios,” she added.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie. bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
