District staff on Feb. 8 presented proposed 2021–22 campus staffing formulas intended to reduce operating costs while preserving core services. The discussion focused on elementary fine-arts staffing, middle-school clinic staffing and reassigning some assistant principals and counselors to Career and Technical Education (CTE) management to realize savings.

What staff proposed: Kim Kaley (district administration) told trustees the presentation reflects months of review with principals and comparisons with peer districts. The principal changes described were:

- At elementary schools, reduce the second art and music teacher allotment for campuses over 750 students and instead reassign existing instructional assistants as two fine-arts assistants (one for art, one for music) on larger campuses. Administrators said the district already has campus assistants available and would not need to hire new aides to implement the change.

- Keep a second PE teacher at larger elementary campuses because PE requires more instructional minutes per week; the reallocation targets only the fine-arts teacher allotments.

- At middle schools, eliminate a third fine-arts assistant-director position (allotted for very large programs) based on five-year enrollment reviews and planned class-size management.

- Remove a health aide position at middle schools (currently paired with a registered nurse) from the staffing metrics; administrators said they believe the RN can manage clinics without the aide at projected middle-school enrollments next year.

- At the high-school level, staff said no change to the matrix was proposed, but the district will evaluate low-enrollment courses and restructure some programs as revenue-generating CTE offerings.

Financial and personnel impact: Administration said shifting from 16 elementary fine-arts teacher positions to aides and other reassignments would yield a little over $1,000,000 in annual savings based on the district’s budget formulas (the district uses an aggregate teacher cost assumption for planning). The staff presentation emphasized the district’s intent to limit involuntary separations: administrators said they plan to use normal attrition and reopenings in other areas to absorb affected employees where possible, and to give employees two years to find alternative positions or gain additional certification.

Board concerns: Trustees expressed concern about the classroom and program impact of consolidating art and music teachers—especially the effect on instruction, classroom size during specials rotations and campus culture. Trustees also asked for more granular data on assistant-principal staffing benchmarks and on the assumptions underlying the $1 million savings figure. Administration agreed to provide additional data and to work with principals on individual campus logistics and communications to staff and families.

Next steps: The staffing-matrix proposal will return to the board as part of fall‑budget and staffing adoption. Administration said it would provide more detailed cost breakdowns, certification lists for affected staff, and the timeline for any reassignments. The district also indicated that some changes could become permanent efficiency measures, while others might be reversed if revenue or legislative outcomes change.