TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma Public Schools is preparing for leaner years.
The school district says the rising costs of everything from food to insurance to teachers’ pay are outpacing the amount of money that the state allocates to the district.
The state legislature is still weighing how much to give to the school district, but Tacoma Public Schools is looking for ways to streamline its budget now.
“It’s not your traditional budget-cutting; it’s really more ‘budget right-sizing,’” explains Tanisha Jumper, chief communications officer for Tacoma Public Schools. “Rather than us waiting one more year or holding our breath, we’re just being really proactive.”
This comes as the school district continues to see declining numbers in enrollment, which could impact how much money the district is allocated.
Pre-pandemic, the district served around 30,000 students. Now, that number has fallen to around 28,000.
But Penny Cramer, president of the Tacoma Education Association, says this shouldn’t change how the funding should be utilized.
“No matter how much you have, no matter what the enrollment level is, what do you do with the resources?” she says. “The priority of the district should be on students and what their needs are and how those needs can be served in the classroom….I think there’s been a little bit too much focus on administrative costs.”
The school district also won’t be getting any more emergency dollars from COVID-19 and is now looking for ways to preserve programs that were maintained by that funding, along with relocating teachers, consolidating classrooms, and moving programs to different buildings depending on space.
Jumper says it’s a stressful process, but the school district is committed to keeping cuts far away from the classroom and other supportive programs in order to safeguard the progress students have made.
“We’re at 91.1% graduation rates, and we exceeded the state’s average for graduation rates, and we’re really proud of that,” she said. “We’re not going to backslide on services we’re giving to kids.”