Budget information given to Othello School Board

OTHELLO — For the Othello School District, revised school funding rules approved during the 2017 Washington legislative session will mean – actually, some of that is still being determined.

Assistant superintendent Gina Bullis outlined some of the impacts for the Othello School District at the regular meeting Monday. But some of the funding rules still are being worked out. “We’re swimming right now in a big sea of ambiguity, and thinking of it as a big puzzle. Every couple weeks or couple months we’re going to get more and more pieces of the puzzle,” she said.

She cited salaries and benefits as an example. Currently most districts use a salary schedule that takes into account years of experience and continuing education. “After this school year, that’s gone. A brand-new salary schedule will be designed.”

The Superintendent of Public Instruction’s office will develop a prototype salary schedule, Bullis said, that’s scheduled to be available by Dec. 1. “School districts will make the decision to either use that or develop their own.”

There’s a projection of revenues for the 2017-19 biennium, Bullis said, but after the 2018-19 school year funding isn’t guaranteed.

The estimates provided by OSPI are state funding only, she said. Federal funding is not included.

For 2017-18, the district will receive about $5.3 million in additional basic school support, Bullis said, about $1,360 per student. However, there’s no estimate yet of additional expenses, she said.

Othello district voters approved a three-year levy in February, running from 2018 through 2020. Levy collection rates will stay at the amounts approved by voters for the rest of 2017 and the first half of 2018. But for the 2018-19 school year, the new state laws establish a cap on levy rates. The maximum a school district can collect is $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value, regardless of what district voters approved in the past. Because the levy will be reduced, the amount of money the district receives from levy equalization will go down too. For 2018-19, the district is projected to receive about $1.112 million less in levy and levy equalization funds than the estimates made when the levy was approved.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.