Vancouver Schools Superintendent reduces his own pay to helpwith budget shortfall

Vancouver Schools Superintendent reduces his own pay to help with budget shortfall

The superintendent of Vancouver Public Schools, encouraging district employee groups to follow his lead, will reduce his compensation voluntarily by 4.5 percent this school year to help lessen the impact of state budget cuts.

Senate and House budgets, released last week, call for deep spending cuts in K-12 education. Vancouver Public Schools could lose between $5.6 million and $8 million in state revenue for 2009-10, according Dr.
Steven Webb, superintendent. The district’s total operating budget for this school year is $212 million.

Approximately 86 percent of district expenses are for personnel.
Reductions in funding areas critical to schools, but not considered by the state to be part of basic education, could result in the loss of employee positions. For example, in Vancouver schools:
* One hundred ten teachers are paid from I-728 funds, which
primarily support smaller class sizes and teacher training.
* Thirty-eight teachers are paid from K-4 enhancement money, which
helps to lower class sizes in the early grades, and;
* The equivalents of 18 administrators, 33 teachers, or 50
classified staff members are paid with the proposed reduction in levy equalization dollars.

On April 14, at a regularly scheduled school board meeting, Webb will present a set of budget solutions for the board to consider. Input received from staff and community members, along with criteria for making budget decisions, will help shape the list. Webb’s decision to reduce his own compensation follows a decision he and the board made last December to freeze administrative salaries for 2009-10.

The district’s employee groups could save jobs, programs and services by agreeing to an equitable rollback of wages. If every administrator, teacher and staff member were to accept a temporary pay reduction of one percent, the district would realize $1.3 million in savings. Those resources could offset the loss of 17 teaching positions or 26 classified positions.

“Clearly, this is about shared sacrifice,” said Webb. “It is consistent with what we’ve heard from stakeholders, including many district employees. They want us to preserve the excellence of this public school system, which has been the pride of Vancouver for so many years. They also want us to move forward with the vision and goals our strategic plan.”

“In my view, taking a shared sacrifice approach to this unprecedented budget challenge is the right thing to do*for our students, our employees and their families, and our community,” he added.