
Please email OSD leadership to provide them input regarding the budget and recent barriers that have arisen due to enrollment. It is vital the leadership is reminded that the budget survey they put forth demonstrated a clear priority for investment into the student-facing positions and not the highest level ones at Knox. If cuts need to be made, leadership needs to be creative with their own infrastructure before depriving the students of their direct support staff and programs or making it difficult for staff to carry out their actual jobs successfully.
Additionally, despite the narrative that declining enrollment is the reason for why cuts need to happen (and the argument for school closure, which is currently off the table as an option), it has come out that out-of-district kindergarten families have received waitlist letters rather than being granted enrollment for 24-25. If the district is limiting enrollment to control their staffing levels, they are complicit in contributing to the cause of the district’s declining fiscal state.
Ms. Davis’s 3/14/2024 presentation notes that budget documents are to be posted on the OSD website soon, around 6/17/2024. So, the sooner you can send an email, the more likely you will have an impact on what is initially posted.
Please email Superintendent Murphy and Kate Davis, Executive Director of Finance, as there is active work happening on the budget. Please also include the OSD board of directors on your email. Their support of the final budget is necessary for it to pass and they also need to be informed of what the community is actively communicating to the central office.
The key points to communicate are:
- No cuts to student-facing positions and do not cut librarians’ library time to where they cannot wholly do their jobs correctly
- Remind them of the community’s priorities per the budget survey which ranked investment in the non-student facing positions at central office the lowest — therefore, solutions for any shortfalls need to be found there first
- Fix their barriers to enrollment, waitlisting interested families willing to enroll is unacceptable
Once you send your email, please also email your fellow community members to request them to do the same. The higher community engagement is, the more likely it will be that the district’s budget decisions will be consistent with the vision of the community. If you are reading this and have already sent a recent email consistent with this request — thank you so much. Please feel free to forward this email to spread the word.
Thank you for your time and help in addressing this matter with OSD leadership.