MLSD to hold another community meeting regarding finances

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake School District will discuss district finances in a meeting today at Vanguard Academy, 740 E. Yonezawa Blvd. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. 

This will be the third of four meetings in which MLSD Interim Superintendent Carol Lewis breaks down the financial errors that occurred recently, which the Columbia Basin Herald has reported on previously. The four meetings present mostly the same information with slides added to each presentation to address community questions. 

In the meetings, Lewis covers how school finances work, the levy failure which also resulted in the district losing local effort assistance, enrollment errors and accrual accounting errors.  

The presentation shows how the district's $20 million budget shortfall came about, as well as the solutions that have taken place since the errors were discovered. There are opportunities for the public to ask questions during the meeting. MLSD has a Spanish interpreter for the meetings. 

The fourth and final meeting will be at Frontier Middle School, 517 W. Third Ave., at 6 p.m. Oct. 22.  

Lewis said she plans on recording the presentation for the MLSD website; however, she pointed out that patrons who are not present will lack the opportunity to participate in conversation and ask questions about the topics presented.