Thursday, October 1, 2026
In a bid to save approximately $335,000, the Tumwater School District Board of Directors terminated the positions of two evening custodians, one transportation router and one office professional.
The board approved a 2026-27 Reduced Educational Support Program resolution to support the district’s plan to achieve a 6 percent fund balance. The board made the decision at a meeting on March 26.
The resolution also allows the superintendent to reduce, reassign and transfer other certificated and classified staff members.
Assistant Superintendent Ben Rarick described the reduction in the memorandum as “far smaller in scope, impacting a very small number of positions,” compared to the prior year.
“We are making demonstrable progress financially, and yet we sit before you this evening with a posted fund balance of minus $1.1 million. So, we are making progress, but we're in no place to kind of sit inactive in terms of our ability to make efficiencies and the budget,” Rarick said.
He said only the positions are being discontinued, which means an individual may not lose the job but be transferred within the organization or retire.
“Reduced educational support program resolutions are not uncommon across districts that have to make reductions or adjustments in their budget. It really is a requirement when you're talking about reducing certificated staffing,” Rarick said.
Two evening custodian positions will be discontinued because the experimental A/B cleaning in high schools the district has been successful.
The A/B floor cleaning means that each classroom floor will be cleaned once every two days instead of each night, while common areas with high traffic, like cafeterias, will be cleaned every evening.
“Management believes that … we can implement this model without substantial disruption to the program that we have going, which we think is successful,” Rarick said.
One transportation tech/router position will also be cut, as the district has operated a transportation program with either one or two individuals in the role.
“It is the opinion of management that we can operate the transportation program with one transportation tech/router position,” Rarick said.
He also said the district’s reduction of one router will not cause any disruptions in the transportation programs.
The other position to be discontinued is an office professional support role, which Rarick said is due to a contract where higher enrollment numbers dictate the creation of a position.
“Probably strictly speaking, not required for the resolution, but wanted to provide clarity to this. This is a situation where we have a contract where certain enrollment triggers exist, whereas if a school gets above a certain enrollment level, they are entitled to more staffing in the office professional ranks,” Rarick said.
He said enrollment will be impacted because the district is now consolidating programs, and it is projected that the program changes mean one school will receive one fewer office professional support position.
4 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
debpattin
How about cutting an admin position? Or reducing admin hours? Or admin salary? Why do all the cuts fall on the lower paid blue collar workers?
Wednesday, April 1 Report this
JW
Bloated admin protecting their own as usual by dumping on the little guys.
Wednesday, April 1 Report this
Dd2319
All B.S. start with the top and work your way down. Some of the better paid employees surely don't need an assistant.
Thursday, April 2 Report this
OlyBlues
I vote NO for every Tumwater SD levy since they refuse to live within their means and just want to spend wildly on everything! You can see their priorities here to fire the lowest paid staff doing some of the hardest work in the district while protecting the fat cats at the district office. Disgusting!
Sunday, April 5 Report this