The state operating budget is basically done, only awaiting Gov. Chris Gregoire's signature and any adjustments she wants to make.

But exactly what the budget changes will mean for Whatcom County school districts and colleges remains unclear. Officials at both have a better idea of the kinds of cuts they face for their 2011-12 school year operating budgets, but questions remain about how those reductions will be made.

K-12 PUBLIC SCHOOLS

For K-12 school districts, many of the state level cuts were expected, including the elimination of voter-approved initiatives and class-size reduction funds; district officials have planned for those reductions.

But the cut that wasn't necessarily expected going into the Legislative session, and the one causing the most uncertainty, is pay cuts for teachers and school employees.

The budget includes "savings" of $179 million through 1.9 percent salary reductions for teachers and other school staff and 3 percent salary reductions for administrative staff.

But rather than reducing people's paychecks, the cut is actually a reduction in the amount of state funding school districts receive, leaving it up to the districts and unions representing employees to renegotiate contracts and determine how to make the cuts.

School districts receive a set amount of funding for employee salaries, but unions bargain with local school districts to set actual salaries. Just because the state calls for salary reductions doesn't mean unions representing employees have to accept them. Some districts in the state may be able to absorb the reduction. Some may institute furlough days. In some cases, districts will cut employees instead of individual salaries.

Officials for the Bellingham and Ferndale school districts, the largest in Whatcom County, said it will likely take weeks to make decisions, but the financial impacts are expected to be big. For example, the Bellingham School District, the county's largest, expects about $755,000 less in state funding for staff salaries.

Overall, K-12 funding likely will be reduced by $1.14 billion, not counting statewide adjustments to salaries.

Funding cuts in the state budget include: $860 million from suspending the Initiative 728 student achievement program, money that was mostly used for class size reduction; $256.7 million from suspending I-732 cost-of-living raises; $169.6 million from eliminating K-4 class-size reduction funds; and $41 million from changing the funding formula for alternative learning experiences (online and parent-partnership programs).

There are a few funding increases to backfill some of the statewide cuts and fix allocation problems of the past. Those increases include: $33.6 million to reduce class sizes in grades K-3 at high-poverty schools, $25 million to implement the new statewide funding formula, $5 million for transportation, $5 million for the continuation of phasing-in of full-day kindergarten programs in high-poverty schools and $3 million for new teacher and principal evaluation pilot programs. No Whatcom County schools are part of the pilot program, and it's unclear if any of the increased revenue in the other areas will come to schools here.

HIGHER EDUCATION

Overall, higher education funding is cut by about $532 million in the state budget.

For Western Washington University, the state cuts equate to a loss of about $35.5 million throughout the 2011-13 biennium, or about a 30 percent cut in state funding.

The university has the ability under a new law to set its own tuition, which is expected to be discussed at the Board of Trustees meeting June 9 and 10.

At this point, public university budget documents are using figures that equate to a 16 percent tuition increase for each of the next two school years, which was the amount proposed in the Senate's budget. If university officials and trustees decide to raise tuition by that amount, the overall net reduction to WWU's budget for the biennium would be about $5.5 million.

Such an increase would be on top of the 14 percent tuition increase each of the last two years.

For the last several months, the university has been undergoing "rebasing" discussions, or ways to narrow the focus of what Western offers to fit within its strengths and budget. Several degree programs, classes and positions will be affected, but a final decision about which areas will be phased out first has not been made.

University officials have been waiting for Gregoire to sign the budget before making final announcements and decisions in case she vetoes any part of the budget that affects higher education, according to Paul Cocke, director of university communications.

For community and technical colleges, the cut statewide is about $84 million over the biennium, including the suspension of cost-of-living raises for staff. A 12 percent tuition increase each of the next two school years is also included in the budget.

Any tuition increase would be on top of 7 percent increases each of the last two years.

How budget cuts will be handled at many two-year schools has yet to be determined. At Whatcom Community College, the budget review committee will be asking the Board of Trustees to extend the 2010-11 budget and keep college operations going until next year's budget is complete later in the summer.

Across the state, college officials are trying to balance cuts with meeting the needs of students who are flocking to the schools; when the recession started, two-year schools saw enrollment increase, a trend that has continued since then.

This story was corrected Tuesday, June 7. The salary reduction exemption for school employees making less than $30,000 each year was incorrect.