Tight budget with tough choices for La Conner Schools

Beset with declining student enrollment and the loss of federal emergency pandemic funding, La Conner Schools officials are bracing to adopt what finance chief David Cram has termed a “bare bones” budget July 31. A 9 a.m. public hearing in the campus administration building precedes the vote.

The fiscal plan is designed to rebuild the district’s dwindling fund balance, shrunk in large measure by reduced state financial support resulting from a decreased student population.

But it comes at the cost of painful personnel cuts across the board – impacting classified, certified and administrative s...