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Scott Terrell

School districts across the state are bracing their budgets for the hardest hit in recent memory. Mount Vernon School District alone will have to cut at least $1.2 million from its budget for the 2008-09 school year.

School district officials have long said that the state does not fund education adequately. But a combination of state-mandated school staff salary increases and withdrawal of funding for a program to help high school students pass the state’s assessment test has increased the burden on local districts.

And that’s before the soaring cost of diesel fuel and a projected 10 to 20 percent increase in the cost of food, said Mount Vernon Superintendent Carl Bruner.

“There have been times in the past where it’s been difficult financially,” he said. “But this seems to be unique in scope and magnitude.”

Districts are facing some daunting cost figures as they begin their budget processes for the coming school year. The Sedro-Woolley and Anacortes districts are already basing next year’s fuel costs on $5-a-gallon diesel. The state mandates that districts approve a budget by the end of August.

Sedro-Woolley transports students 500,000 miles per year, enough to drive to the moon and back, said Stewart Mhyre, executive director of business and operations.

“We’re looking at budgeting $380,000 next year for fuel,” he said. “By the time the budget is done it may be even higher.”

Sedro-Woolley will need an additional $720,000 to make up for the state-mandated cost-of-living increases for staff and the eliminated funding to teach students test-taking skills, according to Northwest Educational Service District 189.

Mhyre said there will be enough teachers retiring or going on leave to make up the difference and that nobody will have to be laid off. But not all districts are as lucky.

The Concrete School District had to lay off 3.2 teaching positions out of a total faculty of 43 and a number of classified staff, said Kathy Hern, business manager with the district.

Concrete will consolidate its middle and elementary schools in the 2008-09 school year to save money. Ordinarily, Hern said, the district has been able to maintain program quality because of a healthy cash balance. Not so this year.

“We may not be able to do additional things beyond the ordinary,” she said. “We will still keep the buildings clean. We might not do maintenance that is necessary at this point.”

The Anacortes School District is already having a tough year. The district’s $62.9 million construction bond proposal failed, and the district is now facing a near-emergency with leaking roofs and outdated boilers.

The district’s personnel and operations director, Dale Bowen, said nearly every district in the state is facing a funding crisis.

“In my 28 years in education, this is as tough as I’ve seen it,” he said. “You see individual districts running into problems, but not across the whole state. That’s really an unusual thing.”

Burlington-Edison Superintendent Rick Jones said the district is looking at other ways to fund increases. He said the school board is looking carefully at fee-based services, from school lunches to student activity cards. And Anacortes could drop some extracurricular programs, said Superintendent Chris Borgen.

Because it’s early in the budget process, some districts seem at a loss for what to do. Jennifer Larson, finance director for Mount Vernon School District, said the easiest cuts were made during lean times in the past, although they didn’t seem easy at the time.

“There is not a good solution out there,” she said.

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