Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Olympia School District Board of Directors is poised to decide whether to approve the 2026-27 Reduced Educational Program and Staffing Plan, which is expected to produce about $3.6 million in savings.
Superintendent Patrick Murphy is scheduled to present Resolution 685, which outlines the areas affected by reductions, at a board meeting on Thursday, April 23.
The cuts are deemed necessary because of declining student enrollment, increased operational costs, the expiration of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, reduced revenue sources, and ongoing financial obligations.
As stated in the resolution, the district is also projecting a structural budget deficit for the 2026–27 school year, requiring around $3.6 million in expenditure reductions to align with anticipated revenues.
Members of the board have evaluated Murphy's recommendations for reductions, including cutting approximately 30 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions and related program adjustments.
Central Office & District Wide Support reductions would generate $1,381,962 (38 percent) in savings, while building level cuts are set to yield $2,078,500 (57.1 percent). Fees and revenue initiatives will add $180,000 (4.9 percent) in savings.
Grassroots nonprofit OSD4All, known to take the lead in opposing school closures in recent years, released a statement about the resolution, calling the cuts “drastic” and “unnecessary.”
“While expenditures continue to outpace revenue, the board has consistently given non-mandated raises and COLAs (cost of living adjustments) to the highest paid staff in the district, totaling over $350K since the 2021-22 school year. The cuts are both drastic and unnecessary as our district recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic,” the nonprofit stated.
OSD4All said the cuts that concern the nonprofit the most are from the elementary art specialists, family liaisons, larger class sizes, Avanti lunch and special programs food distribution, as well as custodial support and utilities.
The April 23 board meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the district boardroom at Knox Administrative Center. For more information, click here.
3 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
wellnow77
Heard a rumor that the budget cuts include elementary art education. Hope this is false!!!!
Wednesday, April 22 Report this
johnvaneenwyk
The cuts also include the family liaison program. Too bad for the most vulnerable students. Too bad for the Olympia community that will have to spend far more to help them in the future than would be spent now on the liaison program. Once again, spend 5 to save 1.
Thursday, April 23 Report this
JW
Can we please retire the old excuse that XYZ bad thing is because we're "still recovering from COVID"?
It's a cop out and not even accurate. We didn't recover "from Covid" we recovered from "the ridiculous government response to Covid".
Thursday, April 23 Report this