OSD holds first of three budget-reduction public forums

The Olympia School District (OSD) held a public forum yesterday, March 28, to gather comments and suggestions from the general public regarding the budget deficit for the next school year.

“The purpose of this forum is to have a discussion about the budget reductions that have been proposed over the last several board meetings,” OSD President Darcy Huffman said. “We needed to have more comments and questions from the public so that the board can do its work and make some good decisions.”

The forum took place in a “question and answer” format, utilizing the Zoom platform and the advanced comments from public emails, with each board member taking turns reading and answering questions.

The questions concerned staffing, class sizes, special education, and extracurricular activities.

OSD has scheduled two more forums on Monday, April 10, to collect additional public input on the budget deficit.

The board has a budget planning timeline as stated in the agenda from their site:

• Thursday, March 30: School board holds work session from 6-8 p.m. to discuss possible 2023-24 districtwide budget reduction options.
• Monday, April 10: School board hosts two online community forums — one from 3-5 p.m. and another from 6-8 p.m. — to hear public comments about budget reduction options.
• Thursday, April 13: The board is scheduled to hold a second reading of the Reduced Education Plan.
• April 13 - May 15: In the event that a reduction in force is necessary, affected OSD staff will be notified.
• May 15 - June 22: If the revenue outlook improves before the 2023-24 budget is approved by the school board on June 22, 2023, adjustments may be made to reductions approved on April 13, 2023.