Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
All five Yelm Community Schools (YCS) Board of Directors voted in favor of moving forward with a reduced education plan to identify positions to cut during a meeting on Thursday, March 26, at the YCS District Office.
According to Chris Woods, superintendent, a resolution was brought for a reduced education plan — similar to what the school board did when 100 positions were removed in 2024.
“Unfortunately, school districts across our state are having to do reduced education plans,” Woods said. “Those are districts that are passing their levies and districts that are not passing their levies. Anytime we are reducing and deviating from our normal education plan, we have to get a resolution.”
Woods read part of the reduced education plan resolution to the board members and attendees of the meeting.
It read:
Whereas, the district is confronted with a quadruple levy failure, binding conditions, enrollment decline, loss of funding, inflationary factors which have resulted in a reduction in the education plan and the number of employees in the district.
Whereas, the board of directors have determined that for the 2026-27 school year, anticipated financial resources are not adequate to maintain the district’s educational program and services at substantially the same level as the current year.
“I think it’s important for people to know why we have to do this and why we’re in the situation that we’re in. If this is approved, in the following board meetings, we’d bring to you more specifics around what cuts we’re making,” Woods said. “Those would come in the form of an exhibit that would accompany the reduced education plan. In order for us to move forward with that plan, we have to first have approval on the reduced education plan.”
Woods said that more information will follow as YCS continues to move forward.
He added that with the deficit the district is trying to overcome, there’s still over $3 million as a gap between what they’re projected to conclude the 2026-27 school year at and what the district’s 5% ending fund balance should be.
“Keep in mind, for 2027-28 we’ve got a big cliff coming,” Woods said. “The only reason we were able to push that out for a year is because of the transfer of capital. We need to think about not only getting back to that board policy of 5% ending fund balance, but we’re also going to be wrestling with what we’re doing the following year.”
Woods added that getting back on track with the board policy of a 5% ending fund balance could come in the form of running a levy, additional cuts to YCS staffing or both. At this point, he said the district is assessing staffing and asking them, if they’re willing to share, if they’re planning on returning to the district next school year.
“Given the gap that we have, a normal year of retirements and resignations would not bridge that gap,” Woods said.
