Special education taking a hit in Puyallup

It is budgeting season for our local schools. Between declining enrollment and state and federal budget cuts, they have a lot to deal with this year.

The Puyallup School District is the first in our area to finalize their 2012-2013 budget and give us an idea of what we are in for this fall.

Their plan calls for 25 fewer teachers next year, 14 bus drivers cut, five fewer librarians, and as many as two dozen para-educators less than the 2011-2012 school year. Looking at the numbers, it seems the program hardest hit in Puyallup will be special education.

“Especially in what’s called the Resource Program, which is the program for students with learning disabilities who do fairly well in the regular program but need some extra support. There are going to be fewer para-educators in that program,” says Lorraine Wilson, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources in the Puyallup School District.

Wilson says what they have tried to do is reallocate resources because the students in those programs will still require help.

“The childrens’ I.E.P.’s [Individualized Education Plans] are legal documents that require us to provide that level of service, and so we will figure out a way to do that,” says Wilson.

Those Individualized Education Plans outline the goals and services required under federal law for students with special needs. While more than two dozen teaching positions will be cut, Wilson says they won’t know how that will affect class size until the school year starts.

“We hold back some of our staffing allocation to the schools, so that we have people left to deploy to those schools where we have higher class sizes than we anticipated,” says Wilson.

Puyallup schools are also still working with their teachers’ union to figure out how to implement some cuts handed down by the legislature last year. In the 2011 legislative session, lawmakers reduced the allocation for teacher salaries by 1.9 percent and administration salaries by 3 percent.

The district has some new software to help them optimize bus routes, so cutting 14 drivers should not have much of an impact on their transportation services. The cuts to librarians could have school libraries closing more often, but the district is hoping to reschedule the remaining staff to minimize the impact.

The district is on a four-year levy cycle. With their last levy passed in 2010 they will not be able to ask local voters for any more money for another two years. Fortunately, Wilson says they have a great community that supports the schools and the kids.

“It’s very much a community, employee, district partnership to do what we can to sustain the program, be fair to employees, and make sure kids get what they need,” says Wilson.