No teacher layoffs in Royal District
File Photo: Royal School District business manager and Richland resident Clinton Sherman will be working closer to home next fall when he assumes the same role in the Wahluke School District.
ROYAL CITY - The Royal School District won't have to lay off any teachers or support staff for the coming school year.
That fact is bucking the trend in these tough economic times. School districts all over Washington have been handing out pink slips.
The difference between Royal so many other districts, according to business manager Clinton Sherman, is forward-thinking administrative work. The district has been running a surplus for years in order to be ready for a year such as this.
"No one will be cut," Sherman said. "Even if the economy keeps failing, no one will have to be laid off next year.??
According to Superintendent Rose Search, the district has had a positive general fund balance of about $2 million for several years. She said the school board has insisted on it.
Sherman noted the board recently voted a 10 percent positive fund balance into its school district fiscal policy.
"The reason the fund balance is so high is so that we don't have to RIF (reduction in force) teachers," Sherman said.
That doesn't mean there won't be some adjustments for next year. The state legislature voted a 1.9 percent decrease in teacher and classified personnel salaries and a 3.0 percent decrease in administrative salaries, Search said, and the district will go with the state's plan.
"The state has a salary schedule that applies to all public K-12 schools," she said.
There will be a $200,000 cut to the district in Learning Assistance Program funds, Sherman said. But the district keeps the $200,000 because of a "hold harmless" provision for its status as a poverty district.
"Hold harmless" means the district does not have to suffer the cut, according to Sherman.
Search said the board will review the state's actions and the district's position at its next meeting on June 27.