CAMANO: School District staffing cuts not as dire as expected (SCN)

Isabella Loy reports in the Stanwood Camano News from the Stanwood-Camano School District board meeting on Tue., Jun. 20, 2023.

The Stanwood-Camano School Board received a staffing update last week that was less gloomy than expected.

In March, the School Board approved the Reduced Educational Program plan, meant to help create a balanced budget for the coming school year.

This plan included reduced spending by about $8.5 million. As of May 25, that number was down to about $6.8 million.

The $1.7 million drop is primarily because of spending reductions made earlier in the year and funding increases from the state in various areas of the budget, according to the district’s website.

The good news was that with more money, fewer staff positions had to be cut across the board.

A video recording of the Stanwood-Camano School District board meeting of Jun. 20, 2023 is available at this link. Discussion of the staffing update begins at 24:20 and lasts approximately six minutes.

They Said It

“Those conversations are hard for everybody,” board member Miranda Evans said. “So even though this is still not ideal, it’s much better than forecasted.”

On the Ballot in August 2023