Prosser cuts beloved athletic director’s job. Now, some want the superintendent fired
Some Prosser residents are so upset over the elimination of the high school’s athletic director position they’ve drafted a petition to oust the superintendent and possibly some members of the school board.
A Change.org petition that’s already has close to 500 signatures is calling for the Prosser School Board to terminate Superintendent Matthew Ellis for not reversing his decision to cut Kevin Lusk’s contract.
Lusk is the beloved 35-year employee of the school district, including working as the high school principal. As the athletic director, his base salary pay this school year was $139,305.
Many have said the move will make Prosser High School the only 2A school in Washington state without a dedicated athletic director.
The district and school board this month are working to resolve a $1.6 million shortfall in next school year’s budget.
Part of the cost-cutting measures include not renewing Lusk’s contract. Aside from teaching positions, additional staff cuts are expected for next school year, Ellis said.
“The whole idea is that we’re trying to run a very balanced budget, and we’re not going to try and tap into cash reserves,” Ellis said in an interview with the Tri-City Herald this week.
Ellis declined to comment on the community’s reaction to Lusk’s firing.
“Kevin is a good guy, and he’s done a lot of great work for us. I don’t have anything bad to say about him,” he said.
Ellis said plans have begun to restructure Lusk’s position. Those duties may fall on either a teacher, who’ll be paid a stipend, or another administrator.
“We’re giving it time and putting a whole lot of thought in this process. The best decisions aren’t made quickly when we’re talking about finances, when we’re talking about how this will affect people in the district in the long run,” he said.
The author of the unnamed petition — “concerned citizen” — said they would deliver it to the school board members, and also planned to file recall paperwork against the “school board members who voted in favor of Mr. Ellis’s raise knowing the district was in a financial crisis at the same time.”
But that raise — which amounts to about $47,000, or 32% — was negotiated and approved in May 2021. And Prosser didn’t declare a “financial budgetary crisis” until just last month.
Lusk spoke at a recent school board, pleading for the district to keep his position budgeted.
A special school board meeting is planned for 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 1.
The agenda says it’s to consider a public hearing for “probable cause for discharge or adverse effect in contract status” of a school employee. The agenda lists no specifics but it’s likely on Lusk’s contract termination.
Criticism over raise
News of Lusk’s nixed contract landed like a cannonball in the Prosser community.
Hundreds turned up at last week’s school board meeting, and high school students even organized a walkout last Friday.
Parents also have begun sharply criticizing Ellis’ raise.
As of this school year, the Prosser native makes a base pay of $192,000 running the school district and overseeing the instruction of about 2,500 kids.
It’s his first raise since coming to the school district from Lind-Ritzville in 2018, and he argues is fair for the amount of work he does.
His wage is similar to small, rural school districts of similar size.
Tim Payne, the superintendent of 2,700-student Ephrata School District, makes about $188,000. In North Franklin, which has an enrollment of about 2,100, Superintendent Jim Jacobs earns $168,980.
In neighboring Grandview School District, with an enrollment of 3,600 students, Henry Strom makes about $211,000 in base pay.
Ellis’ base superintendent wage is also larger than Kennewick’s, but smaller than his peers in Richland and Pasco.
“I feel like it’s commensurate with the position,” Ellis said. “It’s not the highest, it’s not the lowest.”
Budget woes
Ellis said the Prosser School District has struggled with budgeting for several years.
The woes stem from the Legislature’s 2018 fix to the McCleary decision — a landmark Washington Supreme Court decision that found the state was not fulfilling its constitutional duties to fund basic public education.
The fix to the decision capped local levy enrichment funding at either $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value or $2,500 per student — whichever was lesser.
But the state in exchange also contributed $2 billion in funding to education by way of property tax increases statewide.
Prosser, as Ellis puts it, was forced to drop its enrichment funding rate from $3 per $1,000 of assessed value down to the $1.50 cap, which immediately strained its budget. That cap has since been partially lifted, and now Prosser levies a rate of $2.13.
As a result, the district has had to refrain from filling several positions in recent years, Ellis said.
If Prosser’s levy hadn’t passed in April, the district would have been looking at about $5 million in budget cuts as opposed to the $1.6 million.
Ellis said although they’re eliminating the athletic director position, and cutting about one-third in administrative costs from the athletic budget, there will be no reduction to the types of programs the district offers.
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 12:55 PM with the headline "Prosser cuts beloved athletic director’s job. Now, some want the superintendent fired."
