SEDRO-WOOLLEY — Classified Sedro-Woolley School District employees voted last month to voluntarily give up about $112,000 in raises and holiday pay next year to preserve jobs for remaining colleagues.

Janell Silves, a field representative for the Public School Employees union, said she told school district officials on Wednesday of the vote.

Union members waited this long to talk with school district officials because they didn’t know how much the state legislature would cut school district budgets, Silves said.

More than 80 employees voted for the concessions — foregoing a 2-percent mandatory pay raise and also cutting one day of holiday pay for the 2009-2010 school year. Members of Public School Employees include bus drivers, nurses, mechanics, janitors, groundskeepers, campus safety, food service, and technology.

Employees also agreed to push the contract renegotiation date forward by a year, meaning it will expire in 2012, Silves said.

Silves said PSE employees thought it was more fair to spread the cuts among all of its members, rather than having a small portion of its membership take the brunt of the cuts.

“The employees can’t pick up any more work” from employees who have been laid off, Silves said.

School District officials readily accepted their offer, said Darrell Heisler, human resources and technology executive director for the Sedro-Woolley School District.

The district was prepared to cut the equivalent of seven positions district-wide, an amount that could have included portions of current positions, such as the elimination of after-school activity bus runs that pay drivers about an hour-and-a-half per run per day, Heisler said.

But the PSE concessions preserve the equivalent of five full-time jobs, Heisler said, including a half-time school nurse position.

Earlier this month, the School Board voted to make nearly $2 million in budget cuts, which included 13.5 teacher positions.

Superintendent Mark Venn sent an e-mail to staff praising the actions of the Public School Employees.

“Thanks to our PSE staff for their recognition of our district’s and community’s fiscal challenges at this time and the fact that we must pass a Maintenance and Operations Levy in 2010,” Venn wrote. “These actions will not only benefit our employees but also ultimately impact our classrooms and student learning in a positive way.”

Silves, who helps PSE groups negotiate their contracts in this area of the state, said she just finished helping Concrete School District employees negotiate their contract, and is in the process of helping Mount Vernon School District employees with their contract negotiations.

Employees in the La Conner School District are also “looking at different things,” Silves said, even though their contract is currently closed.

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