What's Going On?

While state funding is a major concern for all school districts, in Tacoma, the financial situation we face is due in part to the district’s failure to put adequate safeguards on its spending. Since 2018, the district has overestimated its revenue by $101.6 million. As a result, the district has made dramatic cuts over the past month, as it faces a $30 million deficit (of a $570 million budget):

• Laying off over 80 paraeducator positions, impacting those who work the most closely with students, and many of whom are integral to the fabric of their school communities
• The displacement of 30 office professionals, most of whom will be laid off at the end of the school year
• The non-renewal of 105 first and second-year educators, or those veteran educators new to the district this year
• Cuts to essential programs like counseling and library services, DL pre-school, Peer Inclusion pre-school, middle and high school instructional coaches, among others

What Do We Need?

Transparency
We are requesting that district leadership provide more detailed information regarding budgetary issues and new proposals to address the budget deficit without impacting TPS workers at the bottom of the pay scale. For example, the district has spent, on average, $15-$19 million in "other professional services" each year since 2020-21. A detailed analysis of these expenditures has not been provided.

Re-Prioritize Funding and Reinstate Our Paraeducators
Other school districts have found creative ways to save money without impacting the classroom. We need the district to re-prioritize funding and demonstrate a willingness to think outside of the box until state funding increases and they build better financial safeguards. Moreover, we ask that Tacoma Public Schools reinstate all recently displaced building/education support paraeducators.