Olympia School District budget includes teacher raises amid millions in adjustments
The Olympia School District’s 2022-2023 budget includes substantial raises for teachers, but a vital funding source is about to dry up, leaving the district with a year to figure out how to save $17.9 million. And that’s only the beginning.
The OSD board of directors last week adopted a $175.65 million budget for this school year. Jennifer Priddy, assistant superintendent of business and finance, said salaries and benefits make up 85.6% of the budget, up from 82.3% last year.
In an interview with The Olympian, Olympia Educators Association president Jodi Boe said Olympia teachers will receive an 18% raise over the next three years. Broken down, it will start with 7.5% this school year, 7.5% in 2024 and at least 3.5% in 2025, depending on inflation at that time. This was solidified in the OEA’s new contract with OSD for 2022-2025.
For this year, that means a teacher with a bachelor’s degree and no experience will receive base pay of $53,583 and a total available compensation of $58,000. Those with the maximum number of years of experience and advanced degrees could make upwards of $120,000.
“We have been behind North Thurston (Public Schools) for many years in terms of compensation, and it’s not good for the Olympia School District when someone can drive a mile and make more money,” Boe said.
Boe said negotiating with the district was easy this year and that OSD recognizes work needs to be done to make Olympia more attractive to prospective educators. And it wasn’t all about how much they were getting paid.
The OEA also secured additional days for counselors, 5-minute prep periods for art, music and PE classes and more. Boe said they’re continuing to fight for planning time, because teachers work much more than the 7.5 hours they’re actively teaching.
“I think a lot of people who aren’t in education don’t understand how much teachers work outside their 7.5-hour work day,” she said. “There’s not enough time in the day for teachers to do everything they have to do.”
She said they were able to get the threshold for overloaded classrooms lowered so teachers can get compensated more for taking on more students. During the board meeting, Priddy shared that only 13 of 173 classrooms are in overload status.
“We’re super happy with our contract, we’re fortunate to have it ratified,” Boe said.
Millions in adjustments to come
Though the new contract is good news for educators, the district will have to make some big adjustments in the near future as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds run out. To make matters worse, enrollment has been steadily declining, which means the district receives less money from the state.
OSD will start off with a fund balance of $12.6 million this year, with some left over from the previous school year. That, combined with the incoming $168.3 million in revenue allows the district to spend $175.65 million and still end with an ending balance of $5.3 million, which is the district minimum. About $128.5 million of that goes toward teaching activities and support.
The Olympia School District had an enrollment of about 9,500 students in 2020-2021. Priddy said enrollment has dropped between 600 and 700 students in the last few years, largely driven by the pandemic and more online and alternative learning options becoming available. The reduction in in-person enrollment has led to a $6.2 million reduction in state funding. It’s also affected other revenue sources, such as athletic and club participation.
The district has been begun to recover from the pandemic, but with emergency funds depleting and student enrollment dropping, the district has some adjustments to make.
“ESSER funding played a significant role in our management of the district this year, and will have a significant negative impact moving forward,” Priddy said.
She said there’s a mismatch between resources and expenditures in the 2023-2024 school year projection totaling $17.9 million. That means OSD has to make a 9.7% reduction in costs somewhere, if ESSER-funded positions aren’t to be cut, to meet their minimum end-fund balance.
The following year is expected to be a similar story. The district has to cut another $3 million in 2024-2025, and another $2 million in 2025-2026.
If OSD chooses to end ESSER-funded positions next school year, it will still have to make $13.3 million in adjustments.
“We have a financial structural issue that is not only driven by ESSER,” Priddy said. “Our state revenues, our lower enrollment and our levy funding are not keeping up with inflation and additional costs.”
Priddy said the district is working to find ways to cut spending. A compensation work group is recommending the state legislature fund higher salary allocations for all staff.
The district is also banking on the Technology and Safety Replacement Levy helping with some of the funding woes, Priddy said.
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