MOUNT VERNON — A proposed policy change for the Mount Vernon School District would require district officials to track how funding of district programs is affecting student achievement.

The intent is to make sure that School Board goals, such as increasing math scores, can be measured in a way that ties funding to results.

The policy is part of a change to the district’s budget creation and adoption guidelines. The changes were presented at the School Board meeting Wednesday night.

District Superintendent Carl Bruner said the intent of the policy is to help board members understand how funding decisions affect student achievement.

Bruner said student achievement could be defined in many ways, from standardized test scores to attendance to student discipline rates.

“District priorities are aligned first and foremost with increasing student achievement,” Bruner said.

One line of the revised policy states that programs that are proven to increase student achievement will have a higher funding priority.

The policy would also formalize the district’s recent efforts to reach out to parents and community members in the creation of the annual budget.

Since October, a budget advisory committee consisting of teachers, principals, community members and parents has been learning about school finance. The group will have its third meeting a week from today.

School Board members spent little time discussing the policy Wednesday other than to request minor wording changes. A formal vote will come up in two weeks.

Bruner said changes to the district’s budget policies are the first of many changes to come that will tie school district policy more closely to student achievement.

Districts across the state will have to drill deeper into their budgets than ever before. Bruner said the proposed changes will help the School Board and the community decide what is important in the coming school year.

The less money a district has to fund programs, “the better off you are if you have a clearly defined policy to guide you,” Bruner said.

State officials say the state faces a $6 billion shortfall over the next two years, and public schools are not immune. The governor has proposed suspending all cost-of-living raises for educators, reducing funding for schools in property-tax-poor districts and cutting the budget aimed at reducing class sizes.

“The level of reductions that are anticipated cannot be absorbed without impacting kids and their programs,” said Superintendent Jerry Jenkins of the Northwest Educational Services District. “Many districts, I would assume, would be engaging the community in helping to identify which of the painful cuts should be implemented — because they will be painful.”

In past years, school districts have cut programs and specialists, such as librarians.

The last time school districts had to make such drastic cuts was in the late 1980s, Jenkins said.  But this year, he said the cuts will be much worse, and school districts everywhere are bracing for the impact.

“It’s not a question of ‘do we want to cut off this limb;’ it’s a question of ‘what limb do we want to cut off,’” Jenkins said.

In other action, the School Board approved a policy that would create an intensive intervention process for students who fail classes and standardized tests. Among a number of interventions, students could take additional support classes, summer school or repeat a grade.

The School Board also held a reception for high school Principal Dave Anderson to honor his recent Golden Apple award.

Kate Martin can be reached at 360-416-2145 or at .