School district savors Halloween budget treat

Though Halloween is trick or treat time, La Conner School District officials aren't masking their glee that the district is enjoying more of the latter than the former this year.

Superintendent David Cram cited for school board members at their meeting Monday night three examples of good news as sweet as any candy haul Halloween trick-or-treaters can expect.

First, Cram announced that K-12 student enrollment, the key factor that drives state school funding, is higher than expected.

Cram projected La Conner would enroll 460 students for the 2024-25 year. The district has 469 full-time students enrolled through this month.

Cram said he had budgeted for 25 kindergarten students this fall, but 30 enrolled.

Washington state provided La Conner $12,454 per student last year.

Second, Cram reported that the district has received its first federal impact aid payment of $1.043 million due this school year. A second payment comes later, likely in the spring.

"This is very significant," Cram said. "It's very exciting for us."

Federal impact aid assists school districts that lose property tax revenue because of tax-exempt properties such as military bases and Native American reservations.

Third, Cram expressed optimism that the district will soon be released from state binding conditions, which were imposed in 2023 until the district could demonstrate it had stabilized its finances. That day is fast approaching since the district budget has moved into the black.

Board members praised Cram for creating the fiscal strategies that helped the district rebound.

"I would like to thank you once again for your fiscal diligence and the rapid recovery from where we were a year ago," board member John Agen told Cram.

He shifted credit to others.

"The thanks go to our staff, teachers and families," said Cram. "There were a lot of sacrifices made by our staff, students and community."

Board President Susan Deyo said the district's improved financial status reflects a positive campus climate this fall.

"We're feeling like we have a different school culture now," she said. "We had a great homecoming week. We feel that we are back to being La Conner and things now are very positive."

Deyo and Agen praised district maintenance chief Toby Walls for upgraded facilities, citing the mounting of a new metallic Braves sign and sports logos on the football grandstand and condition of Whittaker Field.

Mortenson Signs received kudos from Deyo for its work on the "Home of the Braves" sign and logos and the Avon firm's donation of materials for the project.

As for Whittaker Field's playing surface, Agen said "it was in remarkably good shape" for being used by football and soccer teams.

The board on Monday also formally recognized new district special education director Beth Mills and band/choir director McKenzie Clark and the La Conner High School pep band.

Mills briefly recounted her career in education as both a classroom teacher and program director in urban districts.

"At La Conner, the goal is to be visible, responsible, and to communicate," she said.

Mills said her team is collecting and studying data and refining the program's goals and vision.

She said her department's aim is "to assure our students receive the services for which they are eligible. It's important that students receive instruction in the least restrictive environment, meaning that they spend the most time that is appropriate in regular classroom settings."

Clark and his band students invited the board and administrators to step outside and hear them play Wilson Pickett's R&B classic "Land of a Thousand Dances." Drummer Marlin Braelins explained that La Conner's version has a pause midway through the tune, dating to the time at a state basketball tournament when he had to finish with a single drumstick.

"We want to recognize all your efforts around music and continuing to keep music as a really important curricular option," Deyo said.