In order to fill an estimated $2.8-billion revenue hole, the Washington State Senate and House of Representatives both released proposed 2010 supplemental budgets Tuesday that would reduce funding to the Issaquah School District (ISD). Their budgets follow the Governor’s draft proposal in December which also made significant cuts to the district.

Under the Senate’s proposal, the district would lose about $4.8 million in direct funding and $1.6 million in levy authority, according to a press release issued by the ISD on Tuesday. Under the House’s proposal, the district would lose about $2.7 million in direct funding.

Under the Governor’s most recent proposal in January, the district would lose about $4.8 million in direct funding and $1 million in levy authority.

“Since the Governor released her second supplemental budget last month, we’d hope to see subsequent proposals restore some of the devastating cuts to public education,” Superintendent Steve Rasmussen said. “It seems as if the House proposal does make strides to preserve those critical dollars; the Senate’s budget is moving in the opposite direction.”

The majority of cuts in all three proposed budgets are to resources allocated for class size reduction. Each eliminates I-728 funding, which the ISD has used almost exclusively to create smaller teacher-student class ratios.

The Governor’s and Senate’s proposals cut an additional $2 million from staffing ratios that keep kindergarten- through fourth-grade classrooms smaller. Unlike the House budget, they also change an important factor used to calculate school districts’ levy authority, resulting in a loss of between $1 to $1.6 million next year.

The Governor and both sides of the house will now work together to reach a final supplemental budget before the Legislative session ends on March 11.

“It’s an unfortunate day when the best you can hope for is that the Legislature does the least amount of damage to our public schools,” Rasmussen said.