Kent School District eliminates 45 positions

Staff reports

The Kent School District has laid off 45 central administration center positions for the 2018-19 school year as it continues to close a budget gap.

The eliminations, which followed school district board of directors approval on Wednesday, encompass a range of roles and responsibilities in the central administration center, including 12 leadership positions. The reduction and reorganization represent a net savings of approximately $4 million, the school district said in a news release Friday.

Those people laid off were notified Thursday and Friday.

In addition to the reductions in force, compensation at the central administration center will be impacted beginning in the 2018-19 school year. Non-represented administrators will not receive a cost-of-living increase and non-represented non-administrators will not move up a step on the salary schedule for a second year in a row, the school district said.

Also, all non-represented central administration employees will see a reduction of benefits in the 2018-19 fiscal year.

Entering the 2017-18 school year as part of the KSD budget recovery plan, the district made $8 million worth of planned budget reductions and budgeting efficiencies, and through attrition were able to reduce nearly 90 full-time positions. With these efforts, KSD is projected to end August 2018, with a positive fund balance, Superintendent Calvin Watts said.

“The reduction in our workforce is not an issue of personnel performance,” Watts said. “These changes were carefully considered over an extended period and took into account our responsibility to be good fiscal stewards of voter-approved dollars while ensuring that we are on course with our strategic plan and shared vision of higher standards for our students and ourselves.”