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Board weighs adding apprentices, summer school and ABLE program as finance staff readies targeted cuts
Summary
At a May 20 budget work session, Washington County Public Schools staff and board members discussed adding reading and math apprentices, expanding summer school and restoring the elementary ABLE virtual program; the board asked staff to prepare cuts/options and set a follow-up work session.
Washington County Public Schools staff told the board on May 20 they could budget to expand several student-focused programs — reading apprentices, limited math apprentices, a larger summer-school offering and the elementary ABLE virtual program — but those additions would require identifying roughly $2.6 million to $4.0 million in offsets or new revenue.
Superintendent Dr. Sabine and Chief Operating Officer Mr. Prue presented program costs and options. On the reading-apprenticeship program, staff said the district currently supports about 35 apprentices (paid, 15 hours per week during the school year) but had received as many as 60 applications in a recent cycle. "Our number is pretty consistent right around 35," Dr. Willow said when asked about current program size. At roughly $9,600 per apprentice (wages and stipend for mentor teachers), staff estimated 70 reading apprentices would cost about $672,000, and 15 math apprentices would cost about $144,000; budgeting for 70 total positions was estimated near $660,000 when combined with related costs.
On summer school, staff proposed a four-week elementary program operating four days per week in July with an estimated instructional cost of about $425,000 and transportation of roughly $250,000. A proposed middle-school regional program was estimated at about $170,000 for instruction and $100,000 for transportation; high-school programming last year cost roughly $113,000. The district cautioned the estimates do not yet account for additional nursing or special supports that may be required for some students.
Restoring ABLE: Staff said bringing back an elementary ABLE (virtual) program for grades 1–5 would require approximately $609,455 in new teacher salary and benefit funding based on district salary assumptions and staffing needs; a slide noted an updated teacher total-cost figure of $87,065 per new hire.
Tradeoffs and board direction: Board members proposed several approaches to finding the money: a 1% across-the-board reduction (estimated by board members at roughly $3.6 million), targeted reductions (for example, reducing vehicle purchases), or reassigning end-of-year surpluses. Several board members supported restoring apprentices and summer school; during the closing discussion many members expressed a desire to preserve existing school safety-assistant staffing levels while finding savings elsewhere.
Board consensus and next steps: Superintendent Dr. Sabine asked for direction. Multiple board members supported a plan to budget for expanded apprentices (some favored ramping gradually; others favored budgeting full capacity so staff could hire up to demand). The board agreed to an additional work session to direct specific cuts and requested that staff return with recommended tradeoffs and refined dollar figures ahead of the scheduled vote on the FY26 budget.
What is not decided: No formal votes were taken; board members did not commit to a specific set of cuts. Staff emphasized that some program costs are contingent on grant availability and that the reading apprenticeship to date has been grant-supported.
