Where the Money Goes—and Doesn't: Tracing the Impact of School Budget Cuts
Funding cuts are impacting Vashon Island School District (VISD) with increasing prominence, and they’re beginning to dictate the quality and values publicized by our school. But to what extent can investments be reduced while maintaining a successful district and well-supported learners? School board members and others with significant influence in VISD are being forced to make difficult decisions about budgeting and allocating funds to all the departments in need.
“The state is not adequately funding public education. In combination with that, our enrollment is declining, and enrollment drives funding. That's why we have less revenue than our planned expenditures, so that’s why we have to reduce our budget,” said Dr. Jo Moccia, VISD interim-superintendent.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were increases in funding that had an expiration date. An example of this is the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act, passed in March 2020 to support struggling schools during the pandemic. $30.750 billion was allocated to schools across the country, but this increase in funds was temporary.
“A lot of districts, including Vashon, hired staff, based on the money they had at the time, knowing the money was going to go away and we’d have to decrease staff,” Dr. Moccia said.
The special education department has been particularly impacted by budget cuts. This department oversees and provides specialized instruction, support for students with disabilities or special needs, and more. Joel Wiegner, a paraeducator at VHS, is closely involved in the special education department. He sees first-hand this department’s crucial and meaningful impact upon students who best thrive with specialized support.
“We do a lot more than people realize… We are doing personal hygiene care, we are doing all sorts of social emotional developmental work, we are pulling [students] out of classrooms to help give them more structured support time. Paraeducators are responsible for such a wide range of things,” Wiegner stated.
It is clear how vital paraeducators are to the VISD community, but their numbers decrease every year due to budget restraints. This year, VHS has seen an increase in need for special education staff while paraeducator numbers are simultaneously decreasing, making it difficult for these staff to do their jobs effectively.
“We have five employed full-time paraeducators currently. At any given period only three are available to push into other classrooms which is a decrease from last year when we had five that we could push into classrooms,” commented Wiegner.
“I think by losing those people, you're reducing how effective other paraeducators can be because now they're having to take on more responsibilities and they’re not getting paid more necessarily, and so everyone gets a diluted sense of help,” Wiegner concluded.
“This year we’re down to about 1280 students in the whole district. Each one of those students accounts for a certain amount of money that we get from the state, and so when your revenue shrinks you have to make budget adjustments accordingly,” said Allison.
Greg Allison, long-time principal of McMurray Middle School, also has seen and felt the effects of budget cuts in our district largely because of the decreasing student enrollment. Allison also points out that inflation poses another level of complications to budgeting school funds.
“We always have to think about keeping up with inflation, and that’s the struggle every year… …some of our revenue doesn’t increase with inflation, but yet we still have to pay for a labor-intensive organization, and we invest highly in our people and our teachers and staff,” finished Allison.
According to the Education Law Center (ELC), the Trump Administration is proposing $12 billion in cuts to public education in 2026, and the proposed K-12 federal budget cuts to VISD is $761,757. That’s equivalent to 13 first year teacher salaries, or 2,539 chromebooks.
In a time with limited governmental means to support all of those in need of resources, some groups of people in this society will be forced to suffer the consequences of inadequate support. Today, students and teachers are the ones placed in those positions. Education is one of the most influential systems in our society for future generations, and limited funding could lead to a plethora of consequences.
So, how can our Vashon community support better funding for the schools? Dr. Moccia is extremely passionate about the importance of making these issues known to state representatives.
“[People] can lobby the state, because they listen. When enough people use their voices, I think they hear; especially student voices,” finished Moccia.
Please consider advocating for adequate education funding and make your opinions heard by state representatives. Scan the QR code or visit the Washington State Board of Education staff list at https://sbe.wa.gov/about-board/staff to contact board members about your thoughts, because as Dr. Moccia said, they listen.
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