budget passes; Cispus gone, sports saved (for now)

Last night the Olympia School Board passed a budget for 2009-10. Venice Buhain reports:

The board restored about $162,500 in programs at its meeting Tuesday night, including the district-wide bus for the Lincoln Options program, a half-time counselor at Avanti High School, and high school gymnastics, drill team and boys swimming.

Cutting the music and physical education specialists for kindergarten through third grade to save $261,000 had been considered, but none of the board members brought it up as an amendment.

“It wasn’t necessary,” board president Carolyn Barclift told the other board members.

Superintendent Bill Lahmann’s original budget proposal had included about $1.9 million in cuts, and relies on spending about $815,000 from reserves, also known as the ending fund balance.

The board upheld the original budget proposal’s call for administrator furloughs and cutting the overnight trip to the Cispus Learning Center.

To save Cispus, the community would have to raise about $70,000.

The Board also voted to set up a committee to study sports funding. Unless a miracle occurs in the state economy and educational funding structure, we'll be talking about further cuts same time next year.

Update: Buhain's blog entry on who voted for what when is quite useful.