Bethel school officials raid copy machine fund to pay teachers
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TACOMA, Wash. -- Bethel school officials are hoping their copy machines won't break down this year. That's because they decided to take $1 million out of the district's copy machine replacement fund to help pay for the first year of teacher raises in their new contract.
The contract will cost the district $4.8 million over two years in additional teacher salaries and benefits.
School board members and administrators discussed other options for supporting the contract before agreeing not to postpone an $850,000 purchase of U.S. history textbooks, nor dip into the $250,000 computer replacement fund or individual schools' carry-over funds, which total $750,000 across the district. Nor will the district cut staff.
"The money that has been used for the settlement this year is as far away from the classroom as we could make it," board President Brenda Rogers said.
The district also has discovered it will end the past fiscal year in the black - with $500,000 left in the bank. The extra cash will also go toward the contract settlement.
And in other positive budget news, the district had forecast enrollment would fall slightly because of the slowing housing market. Instead, enrollment is stable at 17,595 students.
The copier fund solution may seem like a painless idea, but district officials point out that schools depend heavily on copiers to reproduce instructional materials and tests. Bethel High and Spanaway Lake High, for instance, each made more than 900,000 copies last school year.
The district bought nearly all 77 copy machines in its 24 schools five years ago, hoping they would last five to seven years.
The district had been setting aside $225,000 to $300,000 each of the past five years to have money available to replace them, said Marsha Hunt, the district's budget director. Now the replacement fund will be cut to $300,000 with the withdrawal for teacher salaries.
Officials are analyzing whether any machines need to be replaced soon and what to do when the fund runs dry. But Rogers says the cuts for next year will be more difficult.
"Once the reserve dollars are gone, theyre gone forever," he said.
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