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| Dr Chip Kimball |
Lake Washington School District 2011-12 school year extended
UPDATED: Redmond, Wash. – Lake Washington School District’s school year calendar for 2011-12 has been extended to 181 days from 180 and the last day of school moved from June 20 to June 22. May 25 will become a non-student day.
These changes result from an agreement with the Lake Washington Education Association (LWEA) to maintain current salaries, in spite of the state salary cuts, through the addition of two workdays.
The state legislature cut funding for teacher salaries by 1.9% in the recently completed session. Dr. Chip Kimball, superintendent, noted that teacher compensation affects retention and recruitment of good teachers, a priority that he shares with district parents.
“Teacher salaries, in real dollars adjusted for inflation, have been declining for 30 years,” noted Kevin Teeley, LWEA president. “Despite that fact, the legislature is asking teachers to take another cut in pay.”
Dr. Kimball proposed to the LWEA keeping teacher compensation at the same level as 2010-11, using local levy dollars to make up the difference. As part of the proposal, teachers would work two additional days, focusing the time on preparing for the district’s change to a new grade configuration in the fall of 2012. Teachers voted overwhelmingly to accept this change to their contract. READ MORE >>
“In talking to parents about the grade configuration change,” noted Dr. Kimball, “I found they care deeply about the quality of staff teaching their students. They also want to be sure that both staff and students moving into the middle schools and the high schools are well prepared for this change, especially given that in these schools half to two-thirds of the students and many staff members will be new. The two additional work days will be devoted to making this transition as smooth as possible and will benefit students, families and teachers alike.”
Students will not come to school on May 25, the Friday before Memorial Day, which was scheduled as a regular school day. (Teachers will work that day.) Moving that student day to the end of the school year and adding one more school day pushes the last day of school back to June 22 from June 20.
Dr. Kimball noted, “These days will provide great opportunities for teachers and students alike to go to the schools they will be moving to in the fall of 2012, to get a chance to familiarize themselves with their new location in advance. Staff will be able to plan additional activities to help students and families prepare for their transition to a new school or new grade.”
The district is working with other employee groups on similar proposals.
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About Lake Washington: Lake Washington School District is a high-performing public school district serving Kirkland, Redmond, and Sammamish, Washington. It is the sixth largest district in the state of Washington, with over 24,000 students in 50 schools.
Sammamish Review reports how local levy dollars are used to keep teacher salaries stable.
ReplyDeleteThat money will be made up in part by an estimated 10 cents per $1,000 in assessed value increase in the district’s maintinence and operations levy – money that had been approved by local voters but until recently had been limited by state school funding law.
Faced with looming budget cuts in 2010, the state legislature passed a bill raising the amount of money a school district could collect from its local taxpayers for basic maintenance and operations – from 24.89 percent up to 28.89 percent of the district’s state and federal revenues. The so-called “levy lid,” instituted in 1977, was designed to keep equity among school districts with varying levels of income.
Barbara Posthumus, coordinator of business services at the district, said the district elected to take 26.8 percent this year and will be bumping that up to 28.6 percent next year to combat the state cuts – the maximum amount allowed in the current levy. The exact effect on property taxes depends on fluctuations in the assessed value of property in the district, but Posthumus said the district projects the operations levy to go to $1.52 per $1,000 in assessed value, up from $1.42 this year. Including a recently approved levy for additions to Redmond and Eastlake high schools and debt service on earlier bonds, property owners are expected to pay a total of $3.45 per $1,000 in assessed value in 2012, up from $2.98 this year.
7/1/2011