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Retired teacher raises staffing and budget-growth concerns during public comment
Summary
Steve McKennum, a retired teacher and former YEA president, told the board he reviewed budget summaries and expressed concerns about staffing growth, central-office spending and declines in the district fund balance; he urged board members to review multi-year budget snapshots.
Steve McKennum, a retired teacher and former Yakima Education Association president, used the public-comment period on Jan. 21 to urge board members to review the district’s multi-year budget snapshot and expressed concerns about staffing growth and fund-balance declines.
McKennum said he filed a public-records request for the district budget and summarized the snapshot on page 5 of the materials. He told the board that in the 2022–23 school year the district’s certificated staffing increased by 25.88 full-time equivalents and that classified staffing rose by about 114.95 FTEs. He also pointed to increases in building-administration and central-office administration costs.
McKennum said those staffing and administrative changes coincided with a multi-year decline in the fund balance and that, according to the final budget document he reviewed, the district spent more than revenues in 2023–24. He described those developments as causing “large rifts of personnel” and noted that additional classified layoffs were implemented earlier in the year.
He also referenced an upcoming TAN agreement payment and distributed material that included comparative salary information for state positions to provide context. The board indicated staff would email copies of the budget snapshot to members after the meeting.
The district did not respond in detail during the public-comment period; McKennum’s statements were presented as opinion and interpretation of budget documents rather than board findings.
