Latest / The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District / Episode #6: Cindi Blansfield, Associate Superintendent of Business & Operations

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Episode #6: Cindi Blansfield, Associate Superintendent of Business & Operations · The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District

• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Recess Podcast.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Alan Spicciotti, the proud superintendent of the Auburn School District.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: The recess is a chance for us to tell the stories of the people and programs that make the Auburn School District such a special place to be.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And today I'm joined by another special guest who will help tell some of those stories and maybe uh provide a little education on school finance.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so we're gonna keep things lively uh and interesting, but also dish out a little knowledge.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh my guest is Cindy Blansfield, and she is the Associate Superintendent of Business and Operations for the Auburn School District.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Cindy, welcome.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Glad to be here.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Cindy, um, we're gonna get into your role and everything soon, but just uh so people get a get a context here.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: You support all of our support services, and we have six different departments who report to you.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Could you just share uh who is in the the big business and operations umbrella?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: So that includes capital projects, business services, child nutrition, maintenance and operations, uh, transportation, and uh safety and security.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a long list.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: And uh what I'm gonna do is we're gonna focus on the business side, so really school finance today in this episode.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we'll have either Cindy or some of the great leaders who work with Cindy to share in some of those other areas.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I just think I'm super proud of honestly everything she just mentioned, uh, the schools we build, how we maintain them, how we keep kids safe, uh our our great transportation department that I think is in a really good place um when you take a look around, uh the creativity of our child nutrition department.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: I could just go on.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're really proud of our support group.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: We have a uh high-quality workforce who do all the things behind the scenes that maybe people don't know about, but uh it's just absolutely awesome.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, I I think about them all the time, and I'm glad we get to tell the stories.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: But today we're gonna focus on finance with Cindy Blansfield.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Again, she's our associate superintendent of business and operations.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And before we get into school finance, I'm gonna ask a question that I love to start with and and hear from each of our guests.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Cindy, tell us about your favorite teacher.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite teacher was Mrs.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Walker.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: She was my fourth grade teacher.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I can picture her in my mind right now.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: She was my favorite because um I knew she cared about me.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: I knew that um that she wanted to have me succeed.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And um she accepted me even when maybe I didn't make the best choices in fourth grade.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I knew she still loved me, so yeah, she has a special place in my heart.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: How much trouble can you get into in fourth grade?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not a whole lot, but a little.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, after we uh talk about school finance, we'll hear a little bit more about your journey.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Again, my guest is Associate Superintendent Cindy Blansfield, and we're gonna talk a little bit about school district financing and uh try to uh make it fun.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: I promise there is no math and there will be no test at the end of this podcast episode.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um why don't we just uh start out the highest level?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: What is it that you and your department do uh to make the best use of our money in Auburn and make great use of our our local and state taxpayers' money when we talk about uh fiscal stewardship, we talk about being really proud uh custodians of our community's funds, we take that seriously.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what does your department do to achieve that?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: We are really proud of the work that we do in managing um the taxpayers' dollars in the Auburn School District.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And uh a couple of things that really are important, and that is uh number one, in investing our funds into um student achievement, safety and security, all things related to the schoolhouse uh to support teaching, learning, safety uh district wide.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the second is that business services provides guidance around um requirements, rules around spending money and providing support to the administrators throughout the system uh to ensure we're following the rules, doing the right and doing the right thing.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I know this is not our episode to talk about capital projects, but I love how that's such such like a visual reminder of how we uh take community resources and turn them into great opportunities for kids to learn.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh our uh bond that was passed in 2016, we just finished up.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll let you talk about that, but uh I see those schools as I drive around and it makes me very proud of the work that we've done and our whole team has done uh to deliver on promises and I think uh really use the community's resources with high integrity, and that means a lot to me, and I think every one of our team would say that.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so okay, here's our school financing 101, and we're gonna break it down into three buckets.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: So the district receives money from the state of Washington, from uh the federal level, and then local level, and we're gonna end up in the local level because there's there's uh a lot of detail to that, but let's maybe start the highest level.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I know we don't get a large share of our money from the federal government.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: I believe it's about 12% of our budget.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's correct.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you want to just share what we do get and how that's used?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, there are about three buckets that we receive funding um um for school operations.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Our we get about 12% um federal dollars uh that support um special education and um title programs to target support for student learning.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: The next level is our levy, our educational program and operations levy, which makes up 14% of our revenue.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the biggest pot is state funding, which is 74% um of the budget that we have.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so let's focus on the state for a minute, and then we'll really dive in at the local level.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um tell tell the audience uh what the state funds essentially.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Our state funding is based on enrollment, and so we get a certain amount of money per student full-time equivalent, but per student.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that goes towards everything from teachers to principals to um curriculum, um, instructional uh books supplies, it goes towards all aspects of teaching and learning.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: So Washington State is unique in the country.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: We have a clause in the Constitution that identifies uh the education of all children within the boundaries as the paramount duty of the state.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And uh in fact it says to amply fund and support the basic education of our students.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um do you want to just share with our listeners how that has influenced the state support of schools and how schools are funded?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: For years, um, prior to 2015, um there have been conversations at the state level, the legislative level, about how schools are or aren't uh fully funded and meeting that obligation um as identified by the state constitution.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um the McCleary lawsuit brought to light um what hasn't been funded for districts across the state of Washington and the decision uh changed the funding structure, um, moving it away from local and um putting that obligation um at the state level.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: We still find, however, that there are some aspects of the district, some positions that are not fully funded uh by the state that um we need local levy support for.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we'll uh speak about the levy in a minute.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Can you think of areas in which um my understanding is the state fully funds their formulas.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: But their formulas don't represent what you might expect as a parent or as an educator would represent you know an actual school that meets all the basic needs of our kids.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, do you want to share with the audience a few examples of that?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: So the example that I was just talking about recently is around a support area in um uh technology.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's based on the number of students that you have in elementary or middle or high school, and I think for a technology position, it funded 0.6 of a person in technology.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um or um let me take security, safety and security, for example.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um we have 13 campus safety officers and um the state funds three.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: We also have three SROs, which are Auburn, City of Auburn Commissioned Police Officers, and we do not receive any funding uh for uh that support.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um our special education programs are twelve million dollars underfunded uh from the state.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: So that is intentional targeted support for students with disabilities that we don't get fully funded for.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Cindy.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh think about it is our state has actually made a lot of progress in the last decade.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you looked at some national um studies, I think Washington at one point was second in the country for growth in education spending.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that's the good news.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: But we're underfunded for areas that I think are the most relevant today.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: So uh you mentioned technology, for example, is a great um example of how to be relevant for kids today, for them to come to school and take school seriously as relevant in their lives when they can walk outside of the classroom, go home, and have access to all kinds of technology.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we really needed to up our game, and I'll ask you about how we did that in a minute.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I also think about a lot of our social emotional learning and things that the pandemic put a spotlight on, the need for uh very specified counseling uh to help students with mental health uh or substance abuse, and these are examples of things that really are not provided significantly in the state budget, and then special education uh is an area that we're really committed to, and I'm very proud of the progress we've made in the Auburn School District, um, providing more programs, better support, uh, but that comes at a cost, and the state is behind on funding that.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: So uh so if any legislators are listening, which I'm sure they're not, but uh I do want to acknowledge we've made a lot of progress.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: We've made a lot of progress on uh staff salaries, for example, um, but we do have a way to go to make sure that everything is is funded.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: So um you've heard about the state and the federal funding, and the way I see it, our local money uh helps to fill in those gaps.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have three different kinds of of local measures that we use in the Auburn School District, and I'm asking my guest, Cindy Blansfield, to share about them first.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you actually started with technology, so I'm gonna ask you to go there first and talk about the technology levy uh and how that works.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the technology levy has been a game changer for teaching and learning in the Auburn School District.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: Initially, it helped us to establish the infrastructure, get devices for not only for teachers, but also for students, uh, K through 12, um, and invest in software programs, instructional technology curriculum, um, but also to be innovative.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: There are innovative innovative funds that our teachers continue to learn and grow and teach in new ways to be um relevant, as you said, to our students uh in the classroom.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so the technology levy is actually a six-year levy.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: We passed our current tech levy in 2020.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um in that same year, we ran a what's called an educational programs and operations levy, EPNO.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think for shorthand, we usually call it the levy because it's it's our major local source of operating income.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so we have the tech levy in place, it'll be in place until 2026, and then we'd have to go back to the voters.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um but in February 2024, we need to ask the voters for their permission to renew the EPO levy, the educational programs and operations levy.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Can you share with our audience the role that the EPO levy plays in the operations and education in the Auburn School District?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: First and foremost, it is intended to be a an enrichment levy, taking care of or helping to fund uh all athletics and activities.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um so all of the sports, band, choir, orchestra, um uh robotics clubs, that type of enrichment that we know keeps students engaged um in in school.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: You just named several of the things that literally got me out of bed in the morning as a student when I was in school.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and they they I think that background has helped me throughout my life.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: And and and it is it does that for a lot of students.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: It gets them up, it gets them connected to school, it gives them purpose.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's why the Auburn School District, the board, has always been committed to a comprehensive program um to connect with all of our students.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: So the uh the EPO levy, the enrichment levy uh funds some of these extracurricular activities and and other opportunities outside of the classroom.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what else does it fund?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: It I talked about special education earlier.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: $12 million is supported by uh local levy funds.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: We have um positions that I shared as well.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: So um psychologists, nurses, I talked about campus safety officers, our our SROs.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um those are all examples of positions that under the prototypical school model from the state, um, we we don't receive full funding for for those positions.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so um levy funds help to support and pay for for those positions.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: All right, Cindy.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I promised that there would be no math, and uh this is probably gonna be hard to answer without any math, but in layman's terms, explain to the community uh how the actual levy amount is generated.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a set amount per assessed valuation of our residents in within our boundaries, and that's how the tax amount is determined.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that comes from the state.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh actually the legislature has established uh a$2.50 per thousand of uh basically your home value that would go towards this levy, and that sets a a cap for the district.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Cindy, how does the new levy that'll be on the ballot in February compare to the uh the quote unquote old levy that will be sunsetting after 2024?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: So in essence, it's a continuation.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a new tax.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: This is a replacement of the previous tax that the voters approved in 2020.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that's I know that's messaging that we're trying to get out.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think when you see the ballot, it can be confusing why why am I voting on, you know, I already pay money to schools, why am I voting on on this one now?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth is we're required to ask again.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so that's helpful clarification, Cindy, uh, about our upcoming levy.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you have other questions, if you want to get into the numbers, you can always reach out to Cindy Blansfield at the Auburn School District office, and she'd be happy to go deeper into some of the numbers.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we we always provide that opportunity.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: And there's always, you know, a community member who wants to go really deep, and that's great.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we have a lot who say, Well, I just want to know are my taxes going up uh and what does this pay for?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're trying to meet the needs of our entire community by providing information in a lot of formats.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: I love that we can actually have a conversation about it on a podcast, and we have printed materials and we have things on our website, and uh we're making a lot of presentations in the community, so just want to get the word out.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: All right, are you ready for the fun part of school finance?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Can you talk about school construction bonds?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: I can.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you talked about our 2016 bond program, and I could not be more proud of our team in our capital uh projects department, our architects, our um contractors, our subcontractors, because we have beautiful, amazing buildings that are there for our community, they're there for our students, and every one of the eight projects came in on time and on or under budget.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: And um that's just icing on the cake.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: There, if you haven't gone by to see uh the schools, please go by, take a look at them.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um the students are loving being in our new schools.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I a hundred percent agree.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I get to, you know how they say the quarterback gets, you know, all the blame and all the credit.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of like that with the Bond program.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: I see people around town and they just cannot stop complimenting, you know, how beautiful the schools are, how functional they are, uh, the improvements in the educational process and what we can do to support our students and teachers.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a real point of pride.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I think people feel good about being a part of supporting um something that'll be here literally for generations of students in this community and And uh I I love that.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Just just to be really clear, um, in February twenty-four, uh, there's no bond on the ballot, there's no technology levy on the ballot, it is just the educational programs levy.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the uh the tech levy and the educational levy have to be renewed every four or six years, but the bond um is kind of a one-shot deal.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: So if if you were to make an analogy to your home mortgage, just can you explain in you know really high-level terms how does a bond work?
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: So, in terms of your home mortgage, it's it's like borrowing money to buy a home.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's the same idea that the school district um borrows money to um to build buildings, and we pay back that money um with support from our taxpayers.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: So our taxpayers would approve a bond and um and then that's how we pay pay back those bonds.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: So uh most bonds are 20-year bonds as long-term debt, just like you would you might have a 30-year mortgage on your home, um, and the levies are our day-to-day operating budget.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that is a little bit of an overview of school finance, and if there's anybody still listening, uh, we're gonna get into Cidney Blansfield uh so you can hear just a little bit about her.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um you you mentioned you you grew up in Montana, you attended Eastern Washington University, go Eagles, um, and and you found your way to Western Washington.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us about your you you you started your career teaching at Auburn Riverside, you were an original Raven.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Where did it go from there?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I taught for 10 years, and then I had the opportunity to go to OSPI, as a matter of fact, as a program supervisor for business and marketing education.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: My teaching degree and background in teaching is in current technical education.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was there as a state leader for three years, and then um there was a current technical education director position open in the Auburn School District, and I jumped at the chance uh to come back and was just elated when I was uh chosen to come back as an administrator in the district.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's great, and it's been a great ride.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: You've been a tremendous support to me uh in all those six areas that we talked about in the beginning of the podcast.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's a lot on your plate, but uh I can can vouch that Cindy Blansfield has been a really powerful leader in our district.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that brings me to the last question, the actual last question.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and it's one that I ask every guest what was your favorite thing to do at recess?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: The swings.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Going out we would go swing and see how high we could go.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I it was crazy.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then we would get to a point where we would jump out of the swing.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so, um yeah, definitely the swings.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: Any uh injuries or close calls?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: No, not at all.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: And uh as a postscript, uh another hat that Cindy wears is she's the risk manager.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope they had good padding uh but beneath the swing set and uh good forms for anybody who might have unfortunately been injured.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's great.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: That brings back great memories.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: And uh thank you for your time.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for sharing and trying to make uh school finance a complicated topic, make it simple and understandable for our audience.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: All right, my guest has been Associate Superintendent Cindy Blansfield.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us on the Recess Podcast.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: We are here to tell the stories of the Auburn School District.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: Please spread the word.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this podcast, uh you might know others who would uh find it interesting and informative.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for spreading the word.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's been my pleasure to be with you.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Dr.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Alan Spacotti.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: This has been the Recess Podcast.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next time.