As the Camas School District (CSD) enacts budget cuts, staff members and school programs may be temporarily affected. About $6 million is being removed from the district’s funding which will result in the relocation of staff, unification of schools, and reduction of district programs.

These changes are being made due to the lack of current student enrollment and the fact that the CSD is not expecting additional funding from the federal government or the state of Washington.

The Freshman Success Academy (FSA), one of Camas High School’s (CHS) programs, will not be returning as an option for next year’s students. This program was created to help incoming freshmen transition into high school and provide extra support for these new students. College Career & Readiness (CCR) is one of the required classes in this program, but because FSA will no longer be an option, neither will CCR.

CHS students and teachers enjoyed being a part of the program and found many benefits that came along with it.

“I look at the students I have and I look back to what they were like when they came here, how far they have come, and I think it made a big difference,” said CHS Algebra I and geometry teacher Endri Dennison.

Removing FSA will make an impact on next year’s students and will be missed profoundly. 

“There are a lot of people and it can be scary for freshmen or eighth graders to come into a really big school and learn a lot of new subjects and high school habits alone,” said freshman Grace Champa.

Along with the reduction of programs, some of the district’s schools are being co-located. Odyssey Middle School and Discovery High School are already known to share a principal and an assistant principal.

This fall, Camas Connect Academy will be joining this unification and will be managed by the same principal.

Teachers will be reduced by seniority, how long the teacher has worked in the district as well as how long they have worked in the state of Washington.

The former teachers will have opportunities to join different programs, whether it be in the same school or a different one, and they will still be able to have a role in the district.

“We try to put the teacher in a position that they are certified in and that their expertise is in. There are only a few teachers that don’t have enough seniority that actually may not get a landing spot in the fall. But they all get to finish out this school year,” said CSD superintendent John Anzalone.

That being said, the teachers will be well taken care of to find a new job.

The CSD has lost about 300 students from the beginning of Covid until now. This has played a big part in the reasoning for the budget cuts. The housing cost in Camas is very high and the amount of well-experienced teachers is very high as well, and from this, the district has been receiving additional funding.

However, this funding has been decreasing each year.

This is the main cause of the staff reduction.

“Right now, we are not anticipating any additional funding, so in order to maintain our school district, we have to reduce staff size,” said Anzalone.

During this time, many staff and teachers in the district have been experiencing lots of stress, but there are still hopes that this problem will be resolved.

“Hopefully when this is over, we may have an opportunity to bring some people back and if we do our best to balance our budget now, then hopefully we can avoid cuts in the future,” said Anzalone.