Enrollment up at MLSD, deficit higher than normal

MOSES LAKE — Enrollment is higher in the Moses Lake School District than projected in the 2022-23 school budget, which will mean more money for the district beginning this month.

Stefanie Lowry, MLSD director of finance, reviewed enrollment numbers and the status of the current budget during the regular Moses Lake School Board meeting Thursday.

“Our K-12 enrollment is at 8,245, which is 215 FTE over (budget projections),” Lowry said.

Student enrollment is measured in full-time equivalents for funding purposes. It’s an estimation of the number of students that would be in school if they were all going full-time rather than, as some students do, spending only part of the day at an MLSD school.

The 2022-23 budget was approved in August, prior to classes beginning, and before district officials had an opportunity to know enrollment numbers.

“January is when we see any apportionment adjustments based on our actual enrollments versus budgeted,” Lowry said.

Expenses are about $8 million over the budget projection, Lowry said. The district has spent about 36% of the budget projection.

“We are four months into our fiscal year, and in a perfect world our actual revenues and expenditures would both be about 33% of our budget,” Lowry said. “We all know we don’t live in a perfect world.”

Revenues are about $1 million more than in the same period last year, but are about 28% of the budget projection, she said. The district receives grants for a number of different programs, and many of them require the district to pay for the services and supplies then be reimbursed for them, she said.

“What we received in January is for expenses from December or earlier,” she said. “So any expenditures that we have early in December, we’re not seeing that reimbursement until the end of January at the earliest. So sometimes there’s a two-month time lag there.”

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, which oversees public schools, is working with a new software system for some of its grant programs, which also has slowed down reimbursement, she said.

The district also has some increased expenses due to the opening of Vanguard Academy, and the adoption of some new curriculum, she said.

As of Dec. 31, MLSD was running a deficit of about $11.8 million.

“So the deficit that we have right now is normal,” said board chair Kevin Fuhr.

Lowry said it was a little higher than normal.

“But it’s not anything to be concerned about,” Fuhr said.

“No,” Lowry said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.