The Kent School Board met Wednesday night for the first time since teachers cast a vote of no confidence in the superintendent.
The board received an update on the budget, which is in a sizeable deficit.
In early April, Kent teachers cast a vote of no confidence in Dr. Calvin Watts; the call for him to resign came after the district almost cut nearly 130 jobs in March to help balance the budget.
"We have been very open and honest. We are not proud that we are in a budget deficit," Watts told KING 5 News in a one-on-one interview.
Watts inherited the budget problems when he arrived in Kent in 2015. It's still an issue today, he says, partly because of increased salaries and increased costs.
"Right now we are projecting more than $1.9 million as an end-of-year fund balance."
He says it's growth, but still, far from the $18 million the district should have at the end of the year. So last month, the district made it known that 127 jobs would need to be eliminated.
But before the cuts came confirmation of new state revenue, with Kent School District receiving $75 million. The district re-evaluated. Instead of 127 layoffs, they could eliminate 60 full-time positions through natural attrition.
The school district held a series of community conversations, led by the superintendent, on how the district and teachers can move forward.
Despite the calls for Watts to step down, Watts says he's committed to leading the district for a long time and is stepping up to show he's competent and capable to lead the district out of the red.
He says the problems will take some time to fully fix and adds recent decreases in expenditures are a step in the right direction. For now, he'll focus on spreading the word that the district is willing to listen to questions and concerns, and take advice, hoping the teachers and parents will indeed find that confidence in him once again.
KING 5's Greg Copeland and Natalie Swaby contributed to this report.
