Lakewood School Board approves budget

LAKEWOOD — The Lakewood School Board has approved its budget for the 2010-11 school year.

The $22.4 million general fund budget includes about $700,000 in reductions last year, said Patty Dowd, director of finance for the district.

Dowd said that the majority of those cuts came from eliminating or reducing staffing.

A total of 3.4 full-time equivalent certified and 1.5 FTE classified staff members were initially let go. A rating of 1.0 is considered full time for a certified teacher, while 0.6 is full time for classified employees.

“For certified staff (the cuts) were all across the board,” Dowd said. “For classified staff it was by program and funding.”

Despite those cuts, the Lakewood School District was able to take advantage of some staff member attrition and retirements, she said, adding that 1.6 FTE certified and 0.6 FTE classified staff will be back in Lakewood schools this next year.

The School Board unanimously approved the projected budget expenditures at its Aug. 18 meeting.

Dennis Haddock, Lakewood Superintendent, said earlier this year that the district could be facing an $800,000 shortfall. In April, Haddock said that the district was proposing eliminating a total of 7.2 certified teaching positions, one full-time classified position and one full-time secretarial position.

Lakewood administrators are projecting flat enrollment next school year, meaning that they don’t anticipate any major growth or decline in the number of students attending school in the district.

Contact Arlington Times Reporter Adam Rudnick at arudnick@arlingtontimes.com or 360-659-1300 Ext. 5056.

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