Sumner School District Superintendent Shares Budget Message for 2013-14

The letter below by Superintendent Dr. Sara E. Johnson was provided by the Sumner School District.

SUMNER, WA:  
In Sumner School District, we count it a privilege to serve our students, families and community as Washington State public school educators. It is our goal to use the most powerful and effective strategies to ensure all students reach outstanding levels of success. We believe the most significant impact on student success is the quality of the teacher, and we understand adequate funding gives educators’ access to the resources they need to support students and the growing demands on public education.

Preparing and planning the 2013-14 budget has called for patience and hope. We patiently waited through the Legislature’s two special sessions, hoping to avoid a government shutdown. We looked to our Legislators to reach consensus on a budget and to respond appropriately to the McCleary decision. We held out hope they would do the right thing and make reasonable strides toward prioritizing education and students. While the budget for this biennium provides a $1 billion down payment for McCleary, it is well short of the $1.4 billion recommendation from the Legislature’s Joint Task Force on Education Funding and additional billions short of what must be funneled to basic education in the near future.

Still, we are excited to have some extra support coming our way and remain hopeful about the future. While the state has added Material Supplies and Operating Cost (MSOC) funding, Sumner School District is still relying heavily on local operating levy dollars to serve students. We received no additional funding for cost-of-living adjustments, employer retirement contributions or health benefits allocations. Further, our District has an expiring levy in 2014 that provides local funding for over 20% of our operating costs. While we value additional state funding to support material and operating costs, pupil transportation and full-day kindergarten for low-income students, we are keenly aware that we have much work to accomplish to maintain a high level of excellence in Sumner School District.

As a premier district, our budget goals will remain focused on the following:

• Support all services identified essential to K – 12 programs in Sumner School District, therefore support our vision: Sumner School District…a great place to learn!
  
• Maintain student instructional time while providing time for professional development, which is vital for all educators in today’s premier education systems.
  
• Ensure every student receives excellent instruction every day in every classroom:
  

• Support and improve excellent instruction through the clearly defined, research- based evaluation  system adopted by Washington State and Sumner School District.
 
• Strategically address the question, “What should students know and be able to do?” through  implementation and alignment with the Common Core State Standards.


Ensure equitable and reliable access to necessary technology tools for students and educators to implement a model of 21st Century education.

Develop and implement a plan to ensure all children start life with a solid foundation for success, based on strong families and a world-class early learning system. Our goal is to make full-day kindergarten available, accessible, accountable and developmentally and culturally appropriate to all families to ensure every child is healthy, capable and confident in school and in life.

Demonstrate fiscal responsibility by maintaining undesignated, unreserved fund balance of 5% of budget expenditures, as required by Board policy.

One of my primary responsibilities as Superintendent is to develop a budget that supports a quality educational experience and ensures success for all students. Student achievement has remained strong despite several years of reductions in funding for our schools. However, our schools are feeling the strains of reductions in staffing, and limited funding for professional development and technology. We are hopeful that funding for public education will increase and we can begin to mitigate the past several years of cuts.

I remain passionate and positive about the continued success of our students and remain committed to our mission, vision and focus. I serve a dedicated team of professional educators and appreciate the strong support of our families and community.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Sara E. Johnson

Proposed 2013-14 Budget
Final Budget Adoption:  August 14, 2013 School Board Meeting, 7 p.m., Bonney Lake High School