Don't make students pay for board mistakes

By Elizabeth Beck and Barb Cruz

Shoreline educators are looking forward to the start of school on Sept. 5. We've been hard at work this week preparing our classrooms, and we can't wait to see our students again.

Yet because of the Shoreline School Board's fiscal mismanagement and poor budget decisions, the start of school -- and the future of Shoreline schools -- is in jeopardy.

After at least a decade of revolving-door superintendents, overpaid consultants and questionable no-bid contracts, the Shoreline School Board wants to once again balance its budget on the backs of students and staff.

Throughout more than seven months of contract negotiations, the school board has been unwilling to offer a settlement that Shoreline teachers and education support professionals can accept.

This dispute is not about unrealistic or greedy demands by school employees. Shoreline educators recognize that there is no extra money in the district budget for new student programs, large pay increases or expensive contract improvements. Even though neighboring school districts can provide their students and staff those resources, it's unrealistic to expect those things in Shoreline at this time.

Instead, we are fighting for the future of Shoreline schools.

The school board seeks to cut more than $400,000 in classroom services from the Shoreline Education Association's contract. Those services help students in the classroom and allow teachers to spend more time helping individual students. Teachers also seek more time for planning lessons and other work related to high academic standards.

In addition, the Shoreline School Board is targeting education support professionals for cuts. The board has proposed cutting at least $140,000 from the Shoreline Education Support Professionals Association contract, mainly in work hours and professional stipend pay. The association represents school office managers, paraprofessionals who work with students and other support employees.

By themselves, these proposed cuts would have a negative effect on students and the quality of Shoreline schools. After years of previous cuts, fiscal mismanagement by the school board and sacrifice by school employees and students, the board's insistence on even more reductions is untenable.

Throughout the course of negotiations, school employees have offered other suggestions for balancing the budget. For example, the district could save approximately $150,000 in general fund money by using ASB money to cover more of the cost of ASB activities. District administrators have rejected such common-sense solutions.

Mistakes have been made -- and not by our students, teachers, and support staff. It is time for our community to hold the five elected members of the Shoreline School Board responsible for their bad decisions and the impact they have on the quality of education in Shoreline.

Over the Labor Day weekend, Shoreline teachers and education support professionals will be asking for the community's help in sending the Shoreline School Board a clear message: Shoreline students and staff should not have to pay for the board's mistakes. The board needs to offer its educators a fair settlement and ensure that school starts on time.

Shoreline resident Elizabeth Beck is on leave from her job as a fourth-grade teacher at Syre Elementary school and serves as co-president of the Shoreline Education Association. Barb Cruz is co-president the Shoreline Education Support Professionals Association and is a library technician at Echo Lake Elementary.