The Moses Lake School District is about to cut
$6 million dollars from thier budget. The cut of the school district's plan was evident when Moses Lake Education Association President Jeremy Pitts informed the school board that the teachers’ union has started discussions with the district about layoffs in the teaching, Para Edcuatros and possible reading coach positions during Thursday's school board meeting. During the meeting Pitts read the following statement:
As you may know, District administration and the Moses Lake Education Association have recently met to begin preliminary discussions about a reduction in force. Our staff and community deserve to be made aware that these discussions are taking place. Reducing staff through attrition is one thing but implementing unnecessary and harmful cuts is quite another. The Moses Lake Education Association does not believe this needs to happen and will create unnecessary disruption in our students’ educations and the lives of our educators and community. The Moses Lake School District has continually built up a reserve fund that now sits over $13m. If a reserve fund is meant for emergency situations and rainy days, we encourage the District to look out the window and see that it’s raining. A reduction in force while maintaining a huge savings account is all about priorities and sends the message that money is more important to the district than students and their teachers.
Pitts concluded he will not disclose any details about the district's plans following further conversations with administrators. Pitts followers by saying the cuts would be based on seniority. Pitts has stated that he believes Moses Lake School District will finalize its final reduction-in-force plan before the end of this 2019 school year. Earlier in the year, the school district stated that it is open to cutting an additional 5% heading into the 2020-2021 school year.
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