Teacher Bill Halstead would normally be at home with his family by late Wednesday afternoon.

But last week, Halstead seized a sign and joined a hundred other Valley educators and parents on the street.

Teachers, administrators, parents and residents, some of whom brought their children, marched through downtown Snoqualmie on November 30, airing opposition to Wash. Gov. Chris Gregoire’s latest supplemental budget cuts in a rare street rally.

“This isn’t just a teacher thing, this is a whole education thing,” said Mount Si teacher Jim Gibowski, who marched beside Halstead.

“We’re hoping we can… make a better situation than the one we’re facing,” Halstead said.

Aiming to shave $2 billion from the state budget, the governor has proposed a number of education cuts, including a four-day, $99 million reduction in the school year; a one-day delay of the state’s June 30, 2013 education allocation, shifting that $340 million expenditure into the next biennium; and a $160 million reduction to state college support.

Additional cuts proposed would reduce or eliminate funding for school child care programs, lower bus depreciation payments $49 million, reduce bonus pay for national board-certified teachers $8.6 million, and change attendance policies to treat students with unexcused absences of five consecutive days as dropouts, rather than the 20 days specified now.

Valley teachers who marched Wednesday were asked to dress in red and wear buttons, which pictured a bitten apple.

That bite needs to look bigger, said Art Galloway, president of the Snoqualmie Valley Education Association.

“We’ve had enough cuts,” he said. “We’ve already absorbed what we can.”

According to the WEA, Washington has lost more than 2,600 K-12 public school employees in recent years, while enrollment has grown by 6,500 students statewide. Washington ranks 47th in the nation on class size, according to the union.

Teachers say newly proposed cuts would mean nearly $1 million less in funding for this district, a shorter school year, and impacts on bussing and early childhood programs.

For the past three years, Galloway said cuts have been kept away from Valley classrooms.

“Now, it’s going to go in the classroom,” he said. “The next cuts are really going to be felt.”

Board discussion

Meeting last week, members of the Snoqualmie Valley School Board agreed that a shortened school year is no better than increased class sizes, as options for the state to save money go.

The board discussed the proposed cuts as part of its Dec. 1 legislative update, and heard from a parent.

“Something is going to happen here,” said North Bend parent Steven Kangas. “What is the board’s position on some of these ideas?”

Superintendent Joel Aune’s response, echoed by all board members except Scott Hodgins, who was absent, was “As a superintendent, my position right now is that none of this is acceptable.”

The good news so far is that there are no mid-year cuts, District Finance Officer Ryan Stokes said in his review of the budget proposal. He pointed out that the suggestion of larger class sizes had been eliminated from the Governor’s supplemental budget.

“In her proposal of increasing class sizes for grades 4 to 12, the savings were very close to a reduced school year,” Stokes said.

A proposal to limit the levy equalization payments made to property-poor districts could save the state some $152 million. Districts with low property values and high tax rates would receive more funding than those with rates closer to the state average. This proposal wouldn’t affect the Snoqualmie Valley School District, Stokes said, but it could open the door to future reductions, should the legislature decide to balance this reduction with one to property-rich districts.

The sum of the proposed cuts would save the state $507.5 million, of its $15.3 billion education budget, and the Governor’s new sales tax proposal might buy back some of these cuts.

Gregoire has proposed a referendum on a half-cent sales tax increase to stave off further cuts to education and law enforcement.

Donning red for the street march, Janna Triesman, a floating librarian at Mount Si, Snoqualmie, Chief Kanim, and Twin Falls, said she would welcome a higher tax over more cuts.

“I’ve got two kids in school,” she said. “I’d rather pay higher taxes than cut their opportunities.”

The legislative special session began Nov. 28, and is expected to conclude before Christmas. The regular legislative session begins Jan. 9, 2012.

• Statistics on budget cuts faced by teachers can be found on the WEA website.

• Information on the governor’s proposed budget can be found at http://www.ofm.wa.gov/budget12/default.asp.