Highline must make budget cuts of $8 million for next school year. We face increasing costs for labor, utilities, insurance and other basic expenses. At the same time, enrollment continues to decline, impacting our state funding. We are at the end of our federal Covid-relief dollars, aka ESSER funds, that have provided a budget cushion for the past several years.
We are looking first to make cuts at the district level in order to avoid direct cuts to schools. Here are some of the reductions identified so far:
- Hiring for all central office open positions will be reviewed, and we will not fill every open position.
- We are reducing contracted services and PD that involves travel.
- We will capture dollars that were budgeted but are not yet spent.
We are trying to insulate schools from cuts as much as possible, but we recognize there will be some impact to schools.
Cuts to central office positions will affect the level of support we can provide to our schools. Declining enrollment means many schools will face staffing adjustments based on student numbers. Some other reductions may not be avoidable.
Highline is not alone. Most districts in our region are contending with budget shortfalls. Many must cut millions of dollars more than Highline.
Unfortunately, we anticipate we will have to cut even deeper for at least two more years unless state funding changes. We continue to work for improvements to state education funding in partnership with our state legislators.