Wahluke balances budget

MATTAWA — The Wahluke School District will not have to use any of its reserves for operations in the 2024-25 school year, but declining enrollment required staff reductions to meet that target. 

For 2024-25, the district general fund is budgeted at about $50.92 million. The general fund pays for most school operations, from staff salaries to buying supplies.  

The district’s debt service fund was budgeted at about $554,770, and the Associated Student Body fund at about $585,000. Money in the ASB fund is raised by the students.  

The budget for the transportation vehicle fund will be $338,000; the TVF can only be used to buy school vehicles. The capital projects fund is about $6.23 million. Wahluke superintendent Andy Harlow said the bulk of that pays for the heating-cooling system at Mattawa Elementary School. District officials took out a loan to pay for it, and are paying it back.  

The district had to use some of its reserves for the 2023-24 school year, dropping it below the target set for the reserve account by the Wahluke School Board. The current reserve is about $3.1 million, and the target is $4.1 million, Harlow said.  

“Last year, we didn’t cut as deep, and we were able to use some of our reserves. And then this year, we have a balanced budget," Harlow said. “Our plan over the next year is to put money back into our reserves.” 

That required cutting staff, including two administrators, four to five teachers and three to four support staff, Harlow said. The enrollment declines that led to the cuts have been a steady trend, he said. 

“Every year (of the COVID-19 pandemic) and every year since then, we have lost enrollment. So, from our high of about 2,700 kids less than five years ago to 2.200 kids now,” Harlow said. 

This is the second consecutive year Wahluke has laid off staff — Harlow estimated the district cut the equivalent of about 27 to 28 staff positions for the 2023-24 school year.  

That followed a review of staffing in general, prompted by the arrival of a new district business manager and the start of Harlow’s second year as superintendent, he said.  

Like any organization, staffing is the major expense in the district. 

“The ESD (105) worked with us, and (said) a good mix of about 80 to 82% (of the budget) should be staffing,” Harlow said. “Three years ago, when I took over (as superintendent) I found out that 96% of our budget was staffing.”  

The current staffing level is about 80 to 85% of the budget, Harlow said. It was a grueling process.  

“We have a balanced budget for this year. The downside is, we made these cuts, now we have to figure out how to live with these cuts,” he said. 

The situation is not unique to Wahluke — enrollment declines are a national trend. Harlow said he attended a meeting of ESD 105 superintendents, and with one or two exceptions every district was facing declining enrollment. 

Wahluke faces a second challenge, that the district can’t offer all the classes students want. Harlow estimated about 50 Wahluke High School students attend part-time classes at the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center in Moses Lake, and about 25 students attend community college classes somewhere in the Columbia Basin through the Running Start program. In both cases funding for those students goes to the location where they’re attending classes.  

“Yes, we lose those dollars, but it’s a program that’s good for kids,” Harlow said. “So, while it doesn’t help the district necessarily — it actually makes it a lot more challenging — we have decided as a district and a school board that we want our kids to have those opportunities.”  

Wahluke officials are starting to work on providing some of those classes in Mattawa.  

“Our work over the next year is to develop a 10-year facilities and operations plan. And we think that CTE classes will be one of the first things that we want to take on,” Harlow said. 

District officials also want to look at ways to qualify teachers to teach college-level courses, so that students can still get college classes without leaving town, he said.