At the June 12 Olympia School District (OSD) board meeting, board directors and Superintendent Murphy identified several arguments for why school closure was the only path toward a balanced budget.
The school board and Superintendent Murphy want an ending fund balance of more than twice the required amount.
Each year, school districts in Washington state must prepare a budget for the following school year that has an ending fund balance with a minimum of 3% of the district’s spending. During the June 12 meeting, President Clifthorne and Superintendent Murphy insisted on a plan to work toward a $13.1m ending fund balance (EFB), approx 7% of the total proposed budget in 2025/26 and the top end of what is allowable by statute. This would cover a month’s payroll in the district. District policy 6022, which outlines the minimum fund balance, was revised last fall to remove the line “Recurring problems require permanent solutions that reflect a basic reallocation of the district’s available resources,” with, “It is the district’s desire to maintain resource levels sufficient to fund an average of at least one month’s payroll expenditures.” The one-month payroll policy is not a state-mandated requirement.
The school board and Superindendent Murphy believe the Olympia School District is in a budget crisis.
The Office of the State Superintendent (OSPI) recently released district financial solvency scores, putting OSD at 2.6 of 4. The average statewide is 3.07.
Superintendent Murphy demands that all staff should receive raises, including the executive cabinet, whose payroll alone equals more than 40% of the required 3% EFB.
Calls for non-student facing executive administration in the district office to not take COLA raises were met with frustration by Superintendent Murphy, who referred to union-bargained teacher and school administration pay having a “trickle effect” on central administration. The executive cabinet in the district office consists of about a dozen positions whose current salaries range between $150k and $189k, even after furlough days implemented last year. Superintendent Murphy’s take home pay is more than the governor’s. Superintendent Murphy defended non-mandated COLA raises for a few positions even though the positions already make up more than forty percent of a required EFB for the entire district.
The school board and Superintendent Murphy are actively discussing school closure without following their own agreed upon process.
The one time savings of closing two elementary schools (without redistributing staff) last year was 0.64% of the EFB. Closing any one school in the district that was allowed consideration for closure, did not exceed a one time savings of 0.5% of the EFB, with transportation and staff re-allocation eating up much of the savings. Last summer, the board claimed it would not consider closing any Olympia schools without agreed upon “trigger metrics” in place. With two outgoing directors, this isn’t poised to happen before the timeframe for school closure laid out by Superintendent Murphy of next mid-school year.
The school board and Superintendent Murphy claim the district is in financial crisis despite receiving $24.7m more from state funding.
With the community rallying for $24.7m extra in the district’s general fund for next year alone, the superintendent said it was not enough. However, he did not specify a state funding number that would be enough to balance the current budget.
The school board and Superintendent Murphy ignore enrollment increases.
Enrollment in the district is up from last year. There are waiting lists for schools and programs that go unaddressed. So, why does OSD keep asking to consider closure?
The school board and Superintendent Murphy ignore ballooning admin pay.
In the last 8 years, much of OSD district administration has moved into a multimillion dollar office that once housed The Olympian. The district was formerly on the third floor of the Esther Knox Building that houses Avanti High School, an entire floor that remains unused by the district. Ballooning admin costs continued during a birth decline in 2019/20 when OSD was at their enrollment peak. During COVID, federal funding was funneled to contract positions like instructional coaches and family liaisons, rather than necessary building upgrades. As central office employee costs have risen past inflationary or local state wages, the district has kept a healthy balance in its capital funding budget for large building costs and maintenance. Director Flores spoke to how the district, as well as many others around Washington, can draw on this funding before the state budget is dispersed during lean months in the late spring and early summer.
The school board and Superintendent Murphy continue to ignore community requests for clarity on spending.
They discussed the annual budget survey filled out by the community, which includes staff, community members, and students. For two years straight, the community has ranked central admin as the lowest priority in terms of spending, yet the majority of cuts and fractionalization this year were from student-facing positions. The district also has yet to share a budget that breaks out central administration and the Teaching & Learning department clearly, which has been a longtime community ask.
The school board and Superintendent Murphy are focused on school closure as the only solution for a self-induced, manufactured budget crisis––a budget that is larger than the city of Olympia’s entire spending. The school closure solution is steeped in faulty thinking, mismanaged funds, weaponized data, and dismissal of their community’s requests.