School board passes 2018-19 budget

The La Conner School board unanimously adopted the district’s 2018-2019 budget Monday night, knowing there will be revisions based on student enrollment and staff contract negotiations. The almost $12 million budget estimates a deficit of $124,254, about one percent of revenues. But until the number of students enrolled is finalized, neither revenue nor expenditures can be completely calculated.

Enrollment is projected at 564 students, nine above budgeted last year. Last October the school district reported 584 students enrolled. Superintendent Whitney Meissner told the board that staff had lowered projections to be conservative. Washington school districts receive revenue from the State based on students enrolled. The number of students also determines expenditures.

Local property taxes contribute $1,005,943.

Staff contracts are being negotiated with the La Conner Education Association and Public School Employees. Once agreements are reached, expenditures can be finalized.

Considering those contracts was the major focus of the meeting. Dave Burgess, the district’s consultant to negotiate the teachers’ contract, made a 35 minute presentation, telling the board at the end that he “looked forward to a settlement where everyone feels heard and respected.” Earlier he complimented the bargaining team as “exceptional folks, bright and dedicated.”

Burgess told the board the cap for increases for La Conner is 3.9 percent, implying that that state mandated figure would determine the settlement. He told the board he would negotiate “according to statutes and to what you can afford.”

Burgess, a retired Washington public schools superintendent, speculated that “a statewide action,” a walkout, as in West Virginia and five other states, was possible.

After the meeting Kate Szurek, board president, said. “We’re going to settle, and we’re going to settle well. We value each other.”

Teacher Jan Auman attended the meeting wearing her blue La Conner Education Association T-shirt. Her dream “is that we have a great settlement. That is possible. I don’t think we want to go down the path of not settling. We will all be brave and do what’s right,” she said.

Bargaining meetings between Burgess and the teachers association are set for July 25-26.

At the start of the meeting Szurek welcomed high school senior Matty Lagerwey as this year’s student representative to the board, finishing a process that Director Lynette Cram started in February. Szurek praised Lagerwey, saying that the recommendations with Lagerwey’s application were glowing and that she “cares about the student body and always wanted a tougher challenge.”

In her remarks, Lagerwey said she was “excited that the school gets a voice now in the meetings.” She took a seat at the board table and listened intently the rest of the meeting.