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District CFO warns of budget timing and outlines staffing steps as parents, teachers protest cuts
Summary
CFO Ashley Murphy told the board the district has collected about 70% of budgeted revenue and is tracking to have 20.72 FTE teaching positions to post; the board also heard public testimony critical of staffing decisions and class-size impacts.
Peninsula School District Chief Financial Officer Ashley Murphy told the board March 20 that district revenues are tracking as expected for the year but that state apportionment timing and the end of federal grants will change summer cash flow and program funding.
Murphy said the district had received “just over 70% of our total anticipated budgeted revenues” through April and that property tax collections in April temporarily increased fund balance. She warned that state apportionment payments shrink in the months immediately after property-tax collection and that the district will use fund balance to bridge May and June before larger state payments in July and August.
Murphy also outlined staffing impacts and the personnel timetable. She said the district will have about 20.72 full-time-equivalent teaching positions to post after completing involuntary and voluntary transfer processes. The district reported 102 provisional certificated teachers this year; staff said 11 provisional teachers were nonrenewed and that personnel moves tied to resignations and retirements affected placements at some schools.
Several community members and staff spoke during public comment, raising concerns about transparency, class size and program cuts. Teacher Ben Pena described how losing a single FTE at the high-school level can force schedules that increase core-class sizes from about 28 to the high 30s and eliminate elective sections such as AVID or leadership. Parent and employee commenters said the district’s personnel changes threatened program continuity, student support services and co-curricular programs.
Superintendent Kirsten Barr and Murphy emphasized the statutory process the district uses for provisional staff and described a sequence of involuntary transfers, voluntary transfers, and then open postings. Murphy pointed the board and public to Revised Code of Washington guidance on provisional certificated status as the legal basis for nonrenewal during the probationary period.
No board action was taken on hiring or layoffs at the meeting; the board approved the consent agenda and summer athletic programs elsewhere on the agenda. District leaders said postings will go out as involuntary and voluntary transfer steps conclude and encouraged community members to monitor job postings and application windows.
Clarifying details provided during the meeting included a projected 20.72 FTE of teaching vacancies to be posted, 102 provisional certificated teachers district-wide, 11 provisional nonrenewals counted among that group, and the fiscal point that roughly 25% of state funding is concentrated in the summer apportionment months.
