KENT, Wash. — Teachers, parents, and students packed several rooms at the Kent School District (KSD) building for a school board meeting Wednesday night, after news spread that more than 100 teachers were potentially at risk of losing their jobs.
The Kent Education Association (KEA) said over 400 provisional teachers, in their first three years of teaching or first year with KSD, were going to receive non-renewal letters from the school district on Friday in an effort to cut roughly 150 teaching positions.
The proposed staffing reduction is tied to a projected $30.5 million budget shortfall KSD faces for the 2026-27 school year, which district officials report as tied to a decline in enrollment and potential changes to state and federal funding…