MLSD mulls budget, unknowns of coming year
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake School District board is considering a $123.7 million operating budget for the district’s 2020-21 school year, which starts on Sept. 1.
“As you know, there are a lot of unknowns, but we are prepared to adapt,” said William “Joe” Connolly, the district’s chief operations officer, during an online meeting of the school board Thursday evening.
The proposed budget is roughly $1 million more than the district budgeted for the 2019-20 school year.
Connolly said the district is assuming for budget purposes a K-12 enrollment of 8,035, less than last year’s budgeted enrollment of 8,070 which was almost 500 students fewer than actually enrolled.
“We’re assuming a 5 percent cut in enrollment in each class, first through 12, and a 10 percent cut in kindergarten enrollment,” he said.
The MLSD has opted to give parents and students the choice of attending school part-time, a mix of in-class and online learning, or remote learning only, as a way of encouraging as many families as possible to return to the district’s schools in the fall.
Connolly said the lowered enrollment projections, which will be the basis of monthly state apportionment payments to the district from September through December, come with an expected $4.2 million drop in state funding this school year.
“We are doing some pre-emptive budget cuts up front,” he said. “We want to be as conservative as possible.”
However, several board members noted that just about every line item in the proposed budget is larger than the previous year’s, and that the district could face serious cuts if enrollment numbers fall drastically because parents refuse to return their children to school.
Board member Susan Freeman wondered where and how the district would cut, since the bulk of its expenditures are on salaries and the district’s contract with its teachers limits how they can be laid off.
“How are we going to pay all these salaries we can’t RIF (reduction in force) because we didn’t notify them in May?” Freeman asked.
“Is this a highly conservative budget? Because I don’t see any expenditure numbers that are smaller than last year and I don’t see any revenue numbers that are smaller than last year,” said Elliott Goodrich, president of the board.
Under the state’s funding formula, the proposed budget allows the district to hire eight more teachers — 565 versus 557 — and three more classified employees — 389 versus 386 — than last year’s budget.
While tasked by the board at a July meeting to assume enrollment of 90 percent of 2019-20, Connolly said he worked with a 95 percent figure because the budget was too tight and presented the district with “cash flow” issues.
“We needed to staff with all three (enrollment) options, and we didn’t want to be too drastic,” Connolly said.
However, Connolly also noted that because of that, any layoffs that might be needed to balance the budget in the event that enrollment falls drastically short would likely fall heaviest on the district’s classified employees.
The district has budgeted $19.4 million in classified salaries for the 2020-21 school year, around 16 percent of the budget, compared with $52.3 million for certified salaries, or 41 percent, according to the proposed budget. Benefits for all district employees account for $31.3 million, or roughly one-quarter of the entire proposed budget.
“If a significant decline in enrollment occurs, there are limited places in which to decrease expenditures,” said Superintendent Josh Meek.
“I hope we don’t have to lay off anybody,” Goodrich said. “I’m hopeful but we’re dealing with a situation with some very large unknowns. And when you look at our budget, 85 percent is payroll and benefits.”
The budget discussion was the first of two the board is required by law to have. The board will review the budget at its next meeting, Aug. 27, and is scheduled to vote on it at that meeting.