Friday Family Message
Hello Families!
Thank you to those families who attended Wednesday evening's Stanwood High School principal finalist community forum. As a result of candidate interviews, your feedback, and much thought, we have decided to repost the position.
This allows us to take more time to find the candidate best suited to the work and opportunities at Stanwood High. We are committed to finding the right candidate to serve students, staff, and families. As always, we will continue to keep you informed of our progress along the way.
Budget update
Hopefully, you had time to read our first weekly budget update message this week. We want to be as transparent as possible while drafting a budget for the 2023-24 school year that will include significant reductions. More budget update messages will follow weekly.
The primary reasons for budget reductions include the following:
Reduced education funding from the state and federal government in certain areas
Increasing costs not covered by the state budget
Failed local capital and technology levy
Gaps between state funding for salaries versus actual costs of salaries
Often, the "state fully funds education" comment from the McCleary decision is misunderstood to mean that the state funds all of the district expenses. School districts are service organizations, and the most significant expenditure is salaries for all our dedicated and talented employees. However, funding from the state doesn’t cover all of the rising personnel costs, contributing to a growing gap between expenditures and revenue.
Boundary adjustment update
The Capital Facilities Advisory Committee (CFAC) has released a new draft map, detailed in the CFAC Update sent to you Thursday and on the CFAC website, which now includes this interactive map tool.
The new map reflects adjustments based on feedback received from the public throughout the process. However, while all suggestions were thoroughly investigated, some did not help us better balance elementary enrollment levels and are not reflected on the newest map.
There will be two more public forums to analyze and discuss the draft map. One at 5:30 p.m. on February 23 at Stanwood Middle School and another at 5:30 p.m. on February 27 at Stanwood Elementary.
A few more reminders
Inclusionary Forum: Parents of students in special education are invited to participate in a discussion forum from 6:30-7:30 p.m. February 22 in the boardroom at the district office. The main topic will be inclusionary practices, though other topics will be discussed.
Get our text alerts: You can opt-in to receive important informational text messages from your child’s school by texting “Y” to 67587
Get social with us!
Please remember to follow the SCSD on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and follow my tweets @rumbaughsupt.