The Washougal School District’s general fund budget for the 2023-24 school year reflects the “challenging times” that the district is facing, but guarantees that “anyone who is with us now and wants to be with us next year is going to have a position,” according to Aaron Hansen, the district’s assistant superintendent.
District leaders presented a preliminary version of the budget to Washougal School Board members June 20, and will release a final version to the public July 10. School board members are expected to vote on the budget at their Aug. 22 meeting.
“We’ve had to make a lot of financial decisions or choice points about how we’re going to navigate through so that everybody who has a contract with us is continuing to be employed with us,” Kris Grindy, the district’s finance director, told school board members June 20. “Every year we try to have an ending fund balance of between 8 percent and 12 percent, and we’re nearing 8 percent (for 2023-24).”
The budget projects that, for the 2023-24 school year, the district will receive approximately $50.39 million in revenues and spend roughly $50.45 million from its general fund.
About 86 percent of the expenditures will go to the salaries and benefits for 178.3 instructional full-time equivalent educators, with the remaining 14 percent paying for materials, supplies and other costs.
“We’re going to overspend the general fund by about $39,000,” Grindy said, “and that’s attributed to the great work of just trying to find where we can make those reductions and how we can realign staffing so we don’t have to do the heavy lifting of reducing staff through reduction-of-force or layoff.”
The district employed 194.7 full-time equivalent educators during the 2022-23 school year.
Hansen said the district did not replace some educators who chose to retire or resign and had “a number of one-year-only contracts” it did not renew.
Hansen said some educators will move to different positions during the 2023-24 school year.
Hansen said, “There is some movement that’s happening from building to building, and that’s about program needs, enrollment and different cohort sizes.”
The budget includes funding for extracurricular activities such arts, drama, music, athletics and clubs; nursing services; the district’s “College in High School,” dual language, transitional kindergarten, AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), early learning and preschool programs; professional learning communities; culinary services; staff wellness; communications; and “market-rate” salaries for educators.
Washington allocates $79,944 to the salary of every certificated staff member in the state. The Washougal School District’s average salary for a certificated staff member for the 2023-24 school year is $103,077.
“We are attracting and retaining high-quality folks, and compensation is part of that,” Washougal School District Superintendent Mary Templeton said. “We’re proud that we’re at market rate. We are not the top paid in the county, but we’re in the top tier. That is part of our cost. But then the outcome is that you have excellent educators in all positions.”
