YAKIMA, Wash.-The Yakima School District is cutting over 100 jobs in an effort to save money, as it says it’s general fund balance would hit zero at the end of this school year.
Superintendent Trevor Greene says a lack of student enrollment, and the lingering effects of the pandemic are parts of the reason for the reduction in force.
He says most of the cuts will be made from positions YSD brought in to bridge the learning gap remote caused by the pandemic.
“At the time during the pandemic, the academic recovery was necessary,” says Greene. “That has been something documented across the state.”
According to Greene, even bigger school districts are facing cuts, including Seattle and Washougal.
Even within the Yakima Valley, he says Toppenish and Mabton are facing million-dollar cuts.
“Maybe the golden age of staffing is over,” says Greene.
The Yakima Education Association, of which will have multiple educators released from YSD, says the district should have seen this coming.
“I want to know who’s going to be held accountable for all the spending, all the stuff that happens, and that we did not see this coming,” says YEA President John Cavanaugh.
YEA says during the pandemic, the district received over $87 million for maintenance and other spending since the pandemic, but a lot of the money went to purchasing new properties and the staff that came with it.
‘Since 2018-19, central administration costs for personnel have gone from $12 million to $18 million,” says Cavanaugh. “It’s been pretty predictable. Look at the birth rates in the county, across the state, we have been in a slowing birth rate since 2011. It’s been pretty predictable that we’re going to need less employees.”
According to YSD, the district will still have more staff than it did in its peak enrollment year of 2017-18.
With 16,233 enrolled students in its peak year, YSD hosted 108 staff members per 1,000 students.
With the projected reduction, YSD will have 125 staff members per 1,000 students with 14,379 projected enrolled.
Greene says YSD is working to find ways to get students enrolled with the district again. An online K-9 school was started to reconnect online learners with YSD as it works to find ways to increase enrollment again.
“Unfortunately, it’s not going to be something that happens now in the Yakima School District,” says Greene. “It just comes down to a matter of how we can refine what we’re doing to make up for the lack of staffing we will have next year.”
