Enrollment in the Edmonds School District is lighter than expected, and that will mean more cuts in this year’s budget.
“While we have not dug deep into the data, it is clear people have lost their jobs, lost their homes and moved to other areas,” said Marla Miller, executive director for business and operations.
The total impact is $2 million. District officials are trying to identify about $1 million in the 2011-12 budget that can be redirected, as well as using some reserves to get through the school year. Any reserves used this year will need to be restored when building the 2012-13 budget.
Community meetings to discuss next year’s budget will take place in spring 2012.
It is called math. Less students=less dollars. Very simple.
Finding hard to believe as so many of the elementary school’s are overloaded! We are busing kids that live two blocks from their home school to another school miles away. Doesn’t make sense!
Schools in the north-east and north-west quadrants of the district are at capacity – particularly those in the north-east quad.
Schools in the Edmonds, Brier, and Mountlake Terrace areas are under capacity, but closing neighborhood schools and forcing more kids to walk farther – or take buses – isn’t often worth the savings.
In a perfect world, we’d put underutilized elementary schools in Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace and Brier on trucks and move them to the areas around the new Lynnwood High School, Martha Lake and Alderwood Manor. The elementary schools in these areas (Oak Heights, Martha Lake, Hazelwood, & Hilltop) are all at capacity to the point that new housing developments a block away are excluded from the overburdened attendance districts of these schools.