With no levy, what will $3,000,000 IN CUTS look like?

 

Without a replacement levy for its expiring levy, Woodland Public Schools must cut $3,000,000 in educational programs and services for the upcoming 2023-2024 school year, plus an additional $3,000,000 in cuts for the 2024-2025 school year.

Nearly every school district in Washington State needs a locally-funded levy to provide the additional services schools need to provide high-quality educational opportunities for children.

The Board of Directors has identified $3,000,000 in cuts which must be made to the following programs and services if the replacement levy does not pass:

Learning Reductions

  • Halt Expansion of Dual Language Program: The incredibly successful Dual Language Program, which permits students to develop bilingual skills in English and Spanish starting in kindergarten will not be able to expand to the middle school.
    Cut Amount:
    $105,000

     
  • Halt Speech Language Pathology Expansion: Despite the increasing enrollment of students with special needs, specifically in Woodland Public Schools, expansion of the Speech Language Pathology (SLP) support will be halted indefinitely.
    Cut Amount: $105,000
     
  • Pause Curriculum Cycle: Curricula will not be replaced or updated. This pause will remain in place indefinitely until funds can be appropriated to restart the curriculum cycle.
    Cut Amount: $70,000
     
  • Eliminate 1:1 technology for elementary school students (K-4): Elementary students will no longer have access to Chromebooks outside of specific classroom projects.
    Cut Amount: $65,000
     
  • Eliminate Summer School for K-8: Students outside of high school will no longer have the opportunity to recover lost credits. Students who fail classes will need to repeat classes and/or grade levels to recover lost credits.
    Cut Amount: $140,000
     
  • Halt expansion of Jump Start / Transitional Kindergarten: Introduced in 2022, Jump Start Kindergarten offered families the opportunity to have children transition into school attendance by beginning at age 4. The program will be eliminated without levy funding.
    Cut Amount: $42,500
     
  • Eliminate Translator Position: With no levy funding, the district can no longer maintain an on-site translator position. While translation services may be enlisted on an as-needed basis, Woodland’s growing multilingual population will no longer have access to a dedicated native speaker in the district.
    Cut Amount: $53,000
     
  • Eliminate Teaching Coaches at the Secondary Level: While studies have shown direct links between teacher coaching and improved student learning, the failure of the levy will leave the Board of Directors with no choice but to eliminate all teaching coaches at the secondary level.
    Cut Amount: $225,000
     
  • Eliminate Deans of Students at the Elementary Level: Deans of Students serve the vital roles of supporting positive student behavior reducing truancy, improve school security, and enabling principals to focus on improving student learning school-wide. Unfortunately, the lack of levy funding means this critical role will be eliminated at the district’s elementary schools.
    Cut Amount: $260,000
     
  • Reduce Assistant Superintendent position: The Assistant Superintendent currently provides critical support for teaching and learning, Career & Technical Education, district-wide teacher coaching, and a myriad of other vital roles. As a result of the lack of levy funding, the position will be reduced.
    Cut Amount: $86,000
     
  • Reduce Yale Elementary Principal staffing: Principal support for Woodland's remote school, Yale Elementary, will be substantially reduced as a result of lack of funding.
    Cut Amount: $40,000
     

  • Eliminate school-based classified staffing: Classified staff including recess aides, library support, copy center assistants, and classroom support will be eliminated.
    Cut Amount: $120,000
     
  • Eliminate District-level Secretarial Staff: District support staff are responsible for managing family and community requests and needs. Without levy funding, district secretarial staff will be eliminated until additional funds can be appropriated.
    Cut Amount: $117,000
     
  • Halt introduction of AVID Learning System at high school: While high school teachers and staff have been trained and prepared to implement the innovative and cutting-edge AVID Learning System to improve student learning at the high school level, this introduction must be halted indefinitely without levy funding support.
    Cut Amount: $20,000
     
  • Reduce food service staff: Food service staff will be reduced in order to accommodate the lack of funding.
    Cut Amount: $40,000
     
  • Eliminate technology support staff: Technology repairs and installations will be delayed district-wide, impacting student learning in classrooms.
    Cut Amount: $84,000
     
  • Halt technology purchases: No new technology purchases will be made outside of replacement classroom technology.
    Cut Amount: $50,000
     
  • Reduce communications support: While ongoing communication between the schools and the community was identified as a critical need, the Board of Directors must reduce communications support by half to manage the lack of levy funding. A substantial reduction in communications between the district, schools, parents, families, and the community must be made until funds can be appropriated.
    Cut Amount: $32,500

Facilities Reductions

  • Halt Tier II/III School Safety and Security Improvements: Plans for security and safety improvements made district-wide will be halted. While Tier I security improvements have been made, the remainder of the district’s security improvement plan will be halted indefinitely.
    Cut Amount: $100,000
     
  • Eliminate Maintenance and Custodial Positions: Drastic cuts to maintenance and custodial staff will result in facilities maintenance prioritized to maintain minimal critical functions. Classroom cleaning will be delayed to weekly, at most, with teachers and other classified staff responsible for many custodial duties.
    Cut Amount: $484,000
     
  • Halt Roof Replacement at Woodland Middle School: The middle school roof is in a state of disrepair that will require the use of temporary tarps on weakened areas to prevent rainwater and the elements from damaging the internals of the facility.
    Cut Amount: $150,000
     
  • Halt Improvements to 5th Street: Scheduled safety improvements, repairs and maintenance will be delayed indefinitely until funds are acquired.
    Cut Amount: $150,000

Extracurricular Reductions

  • Eliminate High School Athletic Teams: All non-Varsity/Junior Varsity athletics at the high school level will be eliminated.
    Cut Amount: $65,000
     
  • Eliminate Middle School Athletics: All organized middle school athletics will be eliminated with only intramural teams remaining.
    Cut Amount: $135,000
     
  • Eliminate transportation for athletics: Student athletes and teams will be responsible for arranging their own transportation to and from non-home games.
    Cut Amount: $50,000

  • Reduce Athletic Director position by 40%: Athletic Director position will be reduced to 0.6 FTE, resulting in less support provided for remaining athletics.
    Cut Amount: $61,000
     
  • Increase WCC/YCC fees to fully cover costs: The school district currently provides before and after school childcare at a substantially lower cost. Since this subsidy was funded by the local levy, all childcare support will be charged at actual costs and will require a substantial increase in fees for any families using these services.
    Cut Amount: $75,000

Community Use Reductions

  • Charge Actual Cost for Community Use of Facilities: With significant cuts to district facilities maintenance staff, community use of facilities for free or at reduced costs will no longer be feasible. Community use fees will be increased dramatically for all community athletics and other uses including costs for utilities, custodial staffing, security, maintenance, repairs, and any additional fees.
    Cut Amount: $30,000

 
 
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