After the Lake Washington School District (LWSD) Board of Directors unanimously approved the district’s 2009-10 General Fund Budget on Monday, Superintendent Dr. Chip Kimball and district communications director Kathryn Reith emphasized major changes in school bus routes as one of the necessary cost-cutting measures.

Bus stops will be cut by one-third and students who qualify for district bus transportation — approximately 6,500 or 7,000 out of 22,000 students — will be asked to walk farther to their bus stops, which will save the district between $350,000 and $400,000 in transportation costs. District officials said this difficult decision was made to reflect the community’s resounding requests to retain good teachers and avoid increases in class sizes. In short, the additional money can be spent directly on education.

The district has mailed letters to parents of students affected by the bus route changes. It is also using multiple means of communication, including the School & Bus Finder feature on its Web site www.lwsd.org and press releases to the Kirkland Reporter to urge parents to carefully check the new locations and pick-up/drop-off times for bus stops, since nearly 80 percent of the routes will have some changes from last school year.

The first reading of the 2009-10 budget took place at the June 22 LWSD Board meeting and community members have had numerous opportunities to review budget proposals at a series of public meetings and on the district Web site. An online survey was also conducted.

Monday’s meeting offered yet another chance for public comment, but no one signed up to speak about this topic.

Kimball described the last few months’ deliberations as “a pretty substantial process because of a $7.7 million reduction in state funds,” but said he was pleased that in the end, community members chose “keeping focus on academic class size and teaching as priorities.”

Board President Jackie Pendergrass said she received no e-mails or calls to argue against these priorities and other board members concurred. Kimball said he had received some feedback from people upset about increases in athletic fees, which was another tough decision made to keep academic progress at the top of the list.

Nancy Bernard, who is running unopposed for re-election as Director of District 3, speculated that the public input process and “early education to the community” were likely factors in the relatively smooth process of determining how district monies should be spent.

Doug Eglington, running unopposed for re-election as Director of District 4, called this “the most ventilated budget I’ve seen in 20 years on the board. …Increased athletic fees and less money spent on administrators are going to be painful, but the district did a great job, making lemonade out of big lemons.”

Wrapping up the meeting, in his Superintendent’s Report, Kimball said that he was hoping against the possibility that “memories may get short … some people may not immediately remember the community’s expressed priorities to keep classes smaller and retain teachers rather than spending more on transportation.”

He and Pendergrass also reminded attendees that this year, the LWSD academic year begins Tuesday, Sept. 1, a week before the Labor Day weekend.

For additional information, call the LWSD Public Information Office at (425) 702-3300 or visit www.lwsd.org.