2024-25 school budget makes a financial rebound

What a difference a year makes.

Last summer, La Conner School District officials required a budget extension that forecasted a negative general fund balance, the result of declining student enrollment and loss of pandemic-related federal dollars.

That dire scenario landed La Conner in binding conditions, essentially giving the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction oversight of La Conner’s finances.

On Monday, the school board approved what it called a “lean” $13 million budget for 2024-25 that projects revenues exceeding expenditures and an ending fund balance of $656,178. It’s a major step towards the district’s goal of rebuilding its reserve fund to equal 10% of its annual budget.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction,” Superintendent David Cram said. “We’ve made some difficult decisions and had to make some painful (personnel and program) cuts.”

Cram, who returned to La Conner in 2023 for a second tour as finance chief, said the district administrative team hasn’t been spared from cutbacks. Administration staffing has been reduced by more than half since last year, and the cutbacks “represent 6,300 hours of work.”

He said remaining administrators have picked up the slack by shouldering additional duties.

“We’ve come a long way in a year,” Cram said of the district’s finances. “I didn’t think we would make it this far in just a year. We’ve made a tremendous amount of sacrifices, but we’re moving in the right direction going into this school year.”

The approved 2024-25 budget anticipates just over $13 million in revenues and $12,928,993 in expenditures. More than 80% of expenditures cover employee salaries and benefits.

“We are in the people business,” Cram said.

He predicted that those numbers won’t change much over the next four years based on expected K-12 student enrollment figures.

Cram has budgeted for 465 full-time students this year, down from 490 in 2023-24 when actual enrollment came in at 492.

He projects enrollment at 445 students in 2027-28.

“That’s still a slight decline, but I think it will flatten out,” he said.

Enrollment was 580 at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and approached 700 when Cram first worked for the district in the early 2000s.

The state of Washington will pay La Conner $12,068 per pupil this coming school year, he said.

“Each FTE (full-time equivalent student) is very valuable,” Cram said. “This drives pretty much everything we do. Staffing models are built on this.”

He said the district has marketed itself to potential transfer families in hopes of boosting enrollment. He also suggested that if the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and Shelter Bay residential community can agree on a new master lease, the local housing market might then attract more families with children.

Cram hopes that the present budget will convince the state to release the district from oversight.

“I feel pretty confident now based on how things are playing out that we can get ourselves out of binding conditions,” he said. “The state gave us two years, so we’re ahead of the game.”

Board members praised Cram for his work during the past year. The forecasted deficit budget at the start of 2023-24 had actually nudged slightly into the black early on.

“You came in here and had quite a mess to clean up,” said Susie Deyo.

“I appreciate the work you’ve done and your fiscal conservatism,” board member John Agen said.

Dan O’Donnell, county treasurer and former mayor, asked why the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community doesn’t pay toward the school district’s debt service on the bond that was issued to build the middle school.

Cram showed that the district has budgeted a “conservative” $1.8 million in federal impact aid revenue to reimburse it for non-taxable property on the Swinomish Reservation, and that the tribe contributed over $500,000 to the district this year.

Additionally, the tribe provides paid paraprofessionals to La Conner classrooms and the tribe for several years contributed toward roofing and siding upgrades to campus buildings.

The board meets next on Aug 12 at 5 p.m. in the district office board room.