Tahoma School District changed the way it did its 2008-09 budget as it prepared to do more with less – not just now, but for years to come.

Lori Cloud, director of finance and operations for the district, said the biggest difference this year has been getting the School Board involved in the budgeting process almost from day one.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult budgeting year,” Cloud said. “Usually we bring (the budget) them at the end and they ask questions. It’s typically too late in the game for them to have any impact on budget decisions doing it that way.”

Instead, the board was involved in the entire process, something that board president Bill Clausmeyer said was important.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult year, given funding challenges and expense increases outpacing revenue growth, ranging from compensation to the cost of diesel,” Clausmeyer said. “It was a challenging process which entailed a lot of deep, sometimes intense, discussions.”

Steps to help balance the budget, which was expected to receive final approval from the board after a public hearing last night, include reducing spending by individual schools and departments by as much as 20 percent, and adding 25 cents to the price of school meals. The board decided against new fees for students to participate in athletics, however.

Part of the increase in costs was due, Cloud explained, to the Legislature’s approval of a raise for certificated staff funded by the state, as well as a significant raise for classified staff.

“That big raise they were pushing through to certificated staff ended up being an increase of the base salary in our district of about 5 percent,” Cloud said. “We give the raise to every certificated staff member in the district, and it cost us money because it wasn’t all funded by the state.”

In addition, the district gave all classified staff a raise, even though not all of those positions are funded through the state, either.

Tack onto that no increase in cash flowing into the district’s coffers, and Cloud said officials had to try and do much more with about the same amount of money – plus the increase in other costs for basics like utilities, fuel and food, with no additional money coming in to cover them.

“It’s been a real challenge, and I think it’s been a real challenge for all school districts,” Cloud said. “I think we’ve done a good job in the past, so we’re not having as big of an impact as other districts.”

Still, Tahoma officials had to make a few changes to balance the budget, including cutting building and departmental budgets by 10 to 20 percent.

Cloud said the district didn’t have to lay anyone off, but it won’t add as many new staff members heading into the new school year.

“We also looked at our revenue neutral programs and ensured that they were remaining revenue neutral,” she said. “We had to increase lunch prices for that to happen. Lunch and breakfast basically increased by 25 cents.”

The board discussed other potential strategies like creating pay-to-play fees for sports, maybe cutting C teams or scaling back other programs. But board members didn’t want to go there, and they really didn’t want to have that kind of impact on kids,” Cloud said.

“Another thing we’ll look at closely is transportation, which is a huge drain on the budget. We’re looking at consolidating routes and consolidating (bus) stops,” she said.

Clausmeyer said he expects the board to be deeply involved in the budget process again next year.

“As I doubt, given the state’s projected shortfall, there is any prospect of budget relief, it’s much more likely the gap will continue to grow and all districts will have to dig deeper,” he said.

Staff writer Kris Hill can be reached at (425) 432-1209 (extension 5054) and khill@reporternewspapers.com