Thursday, October 1, 2026
Layoffs appear to be on the horizon at the Olympia School District, amid a bleak budget outlook that is going to require some tough decisions be made ahead of the next academic year.
As a result, the Olympia School District Board of Directors is expected to consider a resolution that would authorize Superintendent Patrick Murphy to develop a plan to address a looming financial shortfall.
The board is scheduled to address the resolution at a 6:30 p.m. meeting at the Esther R. Knox Building in Olympia on Thursday, March 12.
The resolution states the district is currently projecting expenditures will exceed revenues by approximately $2.1 million in the 2026-27 school year.
And, in order to reduce expenditures to a level of reasonably anticipated revenues, it is going to be necessary to make certain reductions in the district’s education program. That includes reductions in certificated, classified and administrative positions.
If the resolution is approved by the board, it would authorize Murphy to take the following steps:
The issue was broached by Murphy at an Olympia School District Board of Directors meeting on Feb. 26, as part of an enrollment, staffing and budget update before the governing body. The update showed the district was navigating some tough financial waters.
Because of the district’s financial outlook, Murphy said he intended to bring a resolution to the board at the first meeting in March that, if approved, would allow the district to start planning for reductions.
“This is happening in districts all around our area, all up and down the I-5 corridor,” said Murphy at the Feb. 26 meeting. “Hopefully, we wouldn’t have to use it, but we need to have that at our disposal should it be something that is necessary.”
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Quadlok
Maybe sell that building you're having the meeting in? Just the lot has to be worth more than 2 million. Insane its being wasted on school district offices.
Tuesday, March 10 Report this
longtimeresident
Good comment, Quadlok!
Wednesday, March 11 Report this
JohnGear
Gosh, who could have predicted this?
Oh, wait.
https://thejoltnews.com/stories/olympia-schools-flunk-a-test-with-lp-brown-environmental-learning-place,20051?
Wednesday, March 11 Report this
Porter
No one really cares or there would be more than talk. Close the school district. Give the kids a laptop with AI and pray.
Wednesday, March 11 Report this
DudeGuyOly
There he is again with linking that article
Wednesday, March 11 Report this
PBN4884
Quadlock has an excellent idea. And while they're at it, maybe cut the budget starting at the administration's inflated salaries. Lots of places to cut before touching educational programs. I love how the state jacks up taxes but none of them seem to go to education. Or if they do, these folks can't spend wisely. They're probably wasting it on tech that is a detriment to education in the first place (like AI).
Wednesday, March 11 Report this
36098501
This is a manufactured problem - a budget with primarily two variables isn't tough to manage. Number of employees and the number of students.
The problem still seems to have begun by spending one time Covid money on recurring liabilities, The strange choice has been the increase of administration over the years rather than children facing teachers.
If budget revenue is going to be volatile then you plan accordingly and reduce spending. In addition, the general fund budget is pushing $200mm so these cuts are a very small portion of the budget, but for some reason make headline news. If the assumption is made that an employee is $150k a year, cutting $3mm would be 20 employees.
The reduction of budget and student counts might be 1.5%. The pattern appears to be continuing so plan accordingly and ahead of time. These sudden divisive community moments can be avoided with some budgeting leadership. This is not a complicated puzzle that the OSD continues to find itself in a surprising deficit every year.
If this budget is being created by a model, the model is broken. Does it surprise anyone that young students are decreason in OSD, when affordability and housing costs here have increased tremendously. OSD is not affordable for young families - forget the birthrate decrease.
This is the new reality for OSD, Plan accordingly and don't run the district at full revenue revenue absorption every year leaving absolutely no room for error.
I recall the budget in 2020 at ~$160mm and now in 2026 we are at ~$190mm with 800 fewer students. I see the problem.
Wednesday, March 11 Report this
Connie
Didn’t the levy pass? Isn’t that enough money? Is it all being spent on technology and not on staff?
I never vote for levy’s when they are purely for more and more tech ( which has been proven to give a very low quality of education). I felt that more teachers and smaller classes were more important to a good education.
However, now that the teachers are woke propagandists and poor quality “educators” I don’t have faith in any part of the education system in our community and state.
Wednesday, March 11 Report this
JW
Good. Starve the beast.
Wednesday, March 11 Report this