MSD budget cuts begin with teacher layoffs

The Marysville School District has laid off 35 teachers and is planning for a total of $13.5 million in budget cuts which come as a result of recent levy failures. Local voters rejected two funding levies for the district in February and April.

The Marysville School Board reduced the requested amount from the failed February levies and tried again in April, but that was rejected with 54.24 percent of voters against the Educational Programs and Operations levy and 52.18 percent against a Technology and Capital Projects levy.

The Educational Programs and Operations levy is a funding measure that the vast majority of school districts in the state run.

It pays for additional teachers, extracurricular activities including athletics, nurses, counselors and other items that state funding does not fully provide for.

Because Marysville schools won't get that levy money, they expect their 2022-23 school year budget to need a reduction of about $13.5 million.

“So we have to identify how to reduce this year’s budget by $13.5 million,” said Marysville School District Superintendent Chris Pearson at a May 9 budget workshop with the district’s board of directors.

The first step for that reduction was notifying 35 teachers that they were being laid off. Those teachers were notified on May 6.

Teacher staffing takes up the largest proportion of the budget and some layoffs are necessary in the budget cuts, said Pearson.

He also said the district will not fill the positions of teachers who plan to retire at the end of the year.

District officials discussed where more of the potential cuts could come from as well.

Athletics and extracurricular activities make up another large portion of the budget. Varsity athletics cost $1.3 million, while extracurricular activities cost $1.5 million and middle school athletics cost $300,000.

“If we wanted to maintain our athletic and extracurricular programs, we will pay one way or the other,” said Pearson. “That money would be through property tax with the levy, but now they will have to be done through some other way of fund raising."

Other staff make up a big portion of the district’s budget.

Vacant staff positions at the Marysville School District Service Center will not be refilled right now, and Pearson said more cuts could come soon.

“We have a goal of reducing further our operational staff with a goal of half a million dollars,” he said.

That would be a total reduction of about $775,000 at the service center.

“We are talking about significant reduction of student support and security staff, or classified staff,” said Pearson.

Cutting School Resource Officers and seven security staff members could save the district up to $1.5 million, he said.

School Resource Officers come from the Marysville Police Department but currently are paid for by the school district.

“In the past there are precedents of sharing that cost with the city,” said school board member Wade Rinehardt. “If we get to that point I hope we can have conversations with the city and amongst ourselves about that."

Other cuts include new textbooks.

“We are way overdue for social studies and science curriculum adoption,” said Pearson, but the district can save $1.6 million by delaying the purchase of those new textbooks.

Three bus routes may also be cut and merged into other routes, which would save about $150,000.

“We are looking at reducing a few bus routes, and so the impact of that will be longer bus rides and more bus stops,” said Pearson.

School board member Connor Krebbs advocated for keeping facilities maintained, and quoted research that showed good school conditions are positively correlated with student achievement.

“The condition of our facilities is definitely something we’re going to have to take a look at seriously. I don’t think I would be in favor of cutting anything that involves the upkeep and maintenance of our facilities,” he said.

School board president Paul Galovin said the health of the students is important.

“If we don’t maintain our student’s education and prioritize their mental health and well-being during this process we’ll have a lot of money that we won’t be able to use to repair that,” he said. “I anticipate that we’ll have a lot of thoughtful processing to go through."

The school board plans to provide more feedback at their May 16 meeting and continue to discuss where budget cuts could be for the next few weeks.

“What we’re looking from the board is some prioritization and direction,” said Pearson.

A final draft of the district’s next budget is expected to be done presented, discussed and potentially approved by the end of June