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Parents and staff press North Shore board over projected class sizes and budget-driven staffing changes
Summary
Multiple parents, a district paraeducator and a volunteer urged the board to add teachers for elementary and middle school grades after district projections left some schools with higher-than-expected class sizes; the meeting also included board discussion of state-funded cost-of-living adjustments and the levy gap.
Parents and district staff urged the North Shore School District Board of Directors to adjust staffing after district enrollment projections left some schools facing crowded classrooms for next school year.
Parents from Eastridge Elementary said projections used by the district undercount enrollment, leaving the school with more than 30 students per grade unless another teacher is added. "Thirty kids is simply too high for children at this stage of learning," said Camilla Roat, speaking on behalf of several families. Parent Sarah Dominic said East Ridge began the year with larger classes but benefited from a later added teacher; she asked the district to staff earlier to avoid disruption.
At Kenmore Middle School, classified staff member Stephanie Sullivan told the board that proposed least-restrictive-environment (LRE) adjustments intended to save $1.7 million would leave some seventh-grade classes — including Spanish — with up to 40 students. Sullivan said, “Grade class sizes next year at KMS are looking to be 37 to 40 students” and urged the board to minimize classroom impacts as it finalizes the budget.
Why it matters: parents and staff said overcrowded classrooms limit individualized instruction during critical learning years and create extra burdens for teachers. Board members and staff acknowledged funding constraints and described how state funding for inflationary salary increases (the implicit price deflator, IPD) affects local budgets.
Deputy Superintendent Jill Limburgey clarified funding mechanics during a related consent-agenda discussion: the state provides an IPD amount (described in the meeting as 2.5%) that must be allocated to salary increases for covered staff, but the district adds local funds to reach actual salary levels. Limburgey said the district had added roughly $40,000 on top of what the state provided for teacher compensation, and Director Sandy Hayes observed the gap will cost the district about $4 million from the local levy to cover what the state does not fund.
Board members asked principals and PTSA leaders to continue providing enrollment data and requested that the budget development process in July incorporate the classroom staffing concerns raised at the meeting. The consent agenda, which included updated salary schedules tied to the state IPD, passed during the meeting.
