Olympia schools cut $3.6 million, including program last eliminated in the ‘70s
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The school board approved a $3.6 million reduction in force plan for the district.
- District will monitor enrollment and funding and may consider future school consolidation.
- Board asked superintendent to explore retaining some form of family liaison program.
The Olympia School District’s board meeting on April 23 was scheduled to begin with a proclamation for Teacher Appreciation Week. Instead, the board voted to remove the proclamation from the agenda.
President Jess Tourtellotte-Palumbo said the board was having hard conversations about reduction in force, and they wanted to be as respectful as possible.
The board later unanimously approved Superintendent Patrick Murphy’s $3.6 million reduction in force plan. The number was down from $3.8 million after the board removed the plan to discontinue the fifth grade general music class, and transition it to band and orchestra.
This would have cut 1.4 positions and saved $173,000, according to previous reporting from The Olympian.
The board also requested that Murphy explore more options to retain some form of family liaison program to continue supporting marginalized students and their families.
Tourtellotte-Palumbo said during the meeting that the district hosted several meetings and opportunities for input regarding the budget over the past few weeks. She said information from the district’s listening sessions and answers to frequently asked questions are available on the district’s website.
One of the questions on the district’s website states: “While school closure or consolidation is not part of this year’s budget reduction plan, will that be considered in the future?”
The answer: The district will continue to monitor enrollment trends, state funding and the district’s long-term financial sustainability. And all options may need to be considered, “including consolidation in order to maintain those strong educational experiences,” according to the FAQ page.
According to previous reporting from The Olympian, Murphy previously told the board the OSD is overspending by $1.9 million in the 2025-2026 school year. In order to fill that gap and increase the district’s ending fund balance to 4.7%, he said the district needs to cut $4.1 million in the 2026-2027 school year.
Murphy’s ultimate goal is to reach a 7.14% ending fund balance by the 2028-2029 school year, according to previous reporting. That would mean ending that year with $14,277,000 in reserves. He told the board earlier this year that the goal of that is “to restore financial stability, maintain cash flow, and ensure the district can respond to future financial uncertainties.”
Murphy presented a budget reduction plan to the school board on March 26 that included cutting more than 30 full-time equivalent positions, freezing pay and increasing class sizes to support his goal of ending the school year with a higher fund balance. The plan also included removing the 5th grade general music class and focusing on band and orchestra, and cutting the elementary art program.
This means elementary students would no longer have a standalone art class, but would receive such instruction in the core classroom, according to the plan. The district may consider art instruction through partnerships with Inspire Olympia.
Karen Hogan, the art teacher at Pioneer Elementary School, read a letter during public comment April 23 on behalf of the other elementary art teachers in the district. She said the last time the art program was eliminated was in the 1970s, and it took more than 40 years to rebuild what was lost.
Hogan said the change is not a small adjustment.
“It is a removal of a core educational experience for 3,689 elementary students currently served by just 5.4 teaching art positions,” she said. “For those who question whether art is essential, even in the face of extensive research demonstrating its benefits, this decision raises a more fundamental question: What do we believe school is for, if education is only about testable content?”
She said if education is about developing capable, thoughtful and resilient human beings, then the arts aren’t optional.
“Elementary art education is where students learn to observe closely, think creatively, solve problems, persist through challenges and discover there are no wrong ways to do art,” Hogan said.
In response, Murphy said elementary art isn’t stopping. He said the district is changing to a delivery model that existed before teachers were hired for art instruction. He said the district will explore coordination and partnership options for art instruction, and they will likely allocate someone to help lead that work.
Murphy’s plan also called for five family liaison staff positions to be discontinued, according to previous reporting. This would kill the family liaison program entirely.
The program was funded by emergency federal funding from the COVID-19 pandemic. Discontinuing the program would save the district $340,000.
The liaison employees work with elementary students and their families, with a focus on low-income and minority families, to ensure students are getting what they need both inside and outside of school. That can include counseling and academic support, and getting access to housing, food and other resources.
Board member Maria Flores requested that the family liaisons be retained, and that cutting the program be removed from the superintendent’s plan entirely.
Tourtellotte-Palumbo said she wanted to express her inner turmoil with the reductions, particularly around family liaisons and the art program. She said the budget for the 2026-2027 school year hasn’t been approved yet, but she believes their hands are tied after a “less-than-ideal” legislative session and growing expenditures.
“These reductions are devastating, but in part necessary for ultimately getting to a strong, healthy fund balance,” she said.
Murphy said staff will work to identify strategies and areas of focus to reduce the effects of the reduction in force plan. He said he anticipates leveraging school social workers to help connect families with community resources in place of family liaisons.
“We plan to increase collaboration and partnership through invitations to district level meetings with counselors and principals and district leadership with our community partners, which, again, our family liaisons and our social workers have done really well,” he said.
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