Othello School District will pull from reserves to cover shortfall

OTHELLO — Overestimating the number of students for the 2017-18 school year means the Othello School District will have to use some of its reserves for operations in June.

The district will use about $601,000 from its reserves to plug the gap between funding and its expenses, said Brian Bodah, executive director of business services.

“My concern is not this year, my concern is the trend,” said board member Tony Ashton. The district has experienced a funding shortfall twice in the last three years, Ashton said; later in the meeting he said he was mistaken in his belief that the district had to use reserve funds three straight years. The district did not have to use reserves in the 2016-17 school year.

“My concern is not now, it’s the next year,” Ashton said. “My question will be what are we doing expense-wise” to reduce the chances of a continuing loss.

District superintendent Chris Hurst said district officials will come back with a plan to reduce the chances of a further shortfall.

School budgets are written in the summer before school starts, so school districts have to guess how many students will be in school during the year. District officials projected enrollment at the equivalent of 4,436 students for 2017-18, but enrollment actually is the equivalent of 4,317 students.

Basic school support funding is paid on the estimate provided by the district until January, when it’s readjusted for actual expenses. The district also overestimated the amount of money it would receive for some federal programs, Bodah said. In total, the district received $1.8 million less than anticipated.

In other business, board members decided to move the livestream broadcast of board meetings to YouTube.

Board chair Rob Simmons said district patrons were leaving comments on the Facebook livestream, which board members can’t see and can’t answer during the meeting. That has led to some misunderstandings, Simmons said.

At Ashton's request, the YouTube presentation will include a way for district patrons to email board members directly, although they will not be able to leave comments directly.

Board member Ken Johnson said he watched the livestream of the last meeting, and “I’m sorry to say it looks like the meetings go pretty slow. It was a long time sitting there watching.”

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