Renton School District Hosts Additional Budget Meetings

The is gearing up for its next set of public meetings to discuss the school district’s budget. The district will use the opportunity to present results from an held earlier this year.

The meetings will be held at the following times and locations:

Thursday, April 14, at 6:30 p.m. at the commons

Monday, April 25, at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria

Thursday, April 28, at the library

The district's budget could be cut by as much as $2.4 million.

The state has cut the district’s budget by nearly $20 million in the past four years. The losses have resulted in staffing cuts at every level of the district from top management and administrative jobs to custodial, maintenance and grounds positions.

The local budget will be prepared, using guidelines developed from the priorities outlined by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

The district received more than 600 responses to its online surveys. Although the surveys were nonscientific (you could submit the survey more than once), they gleaned input from community, staff and parents who responded.

Respondents indicated that the following were key priorities for the district to consider:  Keeping class size low, reducing transportation for extra-curricular activities, finding alternative sources of funding, allowing teachers to concentrate on teaching and planning, and continuing to invest in maintenance of school facilities.

Handwritten comments to the survey included asking the district not to cut the gifted program—called Discovery—which was on the governor’s hit list. Reducing dollars to give raises to  is also on the governor's line-item list of cuts.

Other written comments to the survey included asking the district to continue cutting administrative and other non-teaching positions.

Another revenue projection from the state was issued Thursday, March 17, that showed the overall budget hole getting bigger.