The Renton School District is scrambling to prepare for next year’s budget, while the Legislature continues to grapple with McCleary v. Washington, the court order to fully fund basic education.
The Legislature is currently in its second session and has not passed a supplemental budget, and may not until the next biennium, which is after June 30. Since the district receives its monthly allocation at the end of the month, it is unclear whether it will get the allocation for June in time for the payroll.
Renton School Board passed a resolution May 24 allowing for short-term loan of up to $5 million from the capital fund to the general fund. This move ensures the district will have enough funds available for the June payroll.
“I believe it is unlikely that this will last long or that they will shut down the state government for more than a few days,” wrote interim Assistant Superintendent Susan Smith Leland in the resolution proposal. “As the resolution indicates, we will pay the capital projects back the monies borrowed plus interest.”
At a May 24 budget study session, Leland walked the board through next year’s budgetary estimates and constraints, all calculated with what she called “2017 Legislature best guess.”
The Legislature has also limited the district’s ability to gather its full levy capacity of $53 million in 2018 as they removed the K-4 ratio from ghost monies.
“These are dollars, in the levy calculations they were allowing us to include as if they had given us the money for it so that we could get more levy,” Leland explained at the meeting. “I have no idea why they did this, but they decided to remove the ghost monies K-4 ratio for us.”
The district will be able to collect $48.9 million, instead of the projected $53 million. Leland said this limitation will cause them to roll back for the next few years.
“I am certain we will not get all $53 million,” she said. “When we chose to run the levy, we chose to run every single thing we could get levy capacity for so that we wouldn’t be leaving levy capacity on the table, which we have done in the last few years.”
Teacher salaries will increase 0.6 percent next year, a reduction from last year’s 1.8 percent for formula-funded teachers.
It is estimated the pension rate will increase by about 16-25 percent, an estimate of $2 million.
Legislature aside, the district has mapped out their initiative and priorities for the next school year, which includes the West Hill Now! innovation zones (which will include Highlands Elementary School); development of K-2 teacher support system for behavior; enhance funding for multi-tiered system of supports development; staffing based on Legislative priorities for K-3 class size; staffing supplies for Risdon Middle School; construction of Sartori Elementary; and development of district safety and security programs.
Next year, the district projects enrollment to be around 15,213, which is a “conservative” estimate according to Leland. This number does not include full-time running start students, dropout engagement or students at alternative learning experience.
A final budget presentation with calculations based on projected enrollment and a public hearing is scheduled at the June 7 regular school board meeting. The board will vote to approve the budget on June 28.
