The Lake Washington School District anticipates that the district will receive nearly $5 million less in state funds next year because of anticipated cuts in the state budget.

The district is seeking parent, staff and community opinion on what items should receive priority in funding as it develops the budget for the 2009-2010 school year.

An online survey is available on the district Web site at www.lwsd.org now through March 13.

Survey participants will be asked to rate priorities from 1 (least important) to 5 (most important). Questions pertain to such diverse issues as class sizes, instructional and non-instructional staffing, services for special needs students, transportation programs, mentoring and training for teachers, communications tools and more.

In 2006, the last time that the district faced significant budget cuts, a committee consisting of community members, parents, teachers and administrators developed a budget decision screen. This screen has been used since then in determining where adjustments should be made in each school year’s budget.

The public is now being asked to take an online survey to rate the items currently on the budget decision screen to determine if the district still has the right priorities for funding.

The survey also asks the public to rate specific budget items on how important each item is to fund.

In addition to seeking public opinion on budget priorities, the district will continue to monitor the budget work being done in the legislature and will adjust the amount of cuts needed accordingly.

For planning purposes, the process of determining these cuts needs to begin now, instead of waiting until the end of the legislative session.

Lake Washington School District is the sixth largest district in the state of Washington, serving more than 23,000 students in 50 schools throughout Redmond, Kirkland, Sammamish and a small portion of Woodinville.