The Yelm Community Schools Board of Directors approved a resolution Thursday, Aug. 8, to petition the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to help the district balance its budget as it faces a shortfall entering the 2024-25 school year.
If a school district is unable to balance its budget, it must request binding conditions from OSPI. The district’s current projected ending fund balance for 2024-25 is approximately a negative $1.2 million, according to YCS Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Carrougher.
If OSPI approves YCS’ request, it would allow the district to budget future revenue in the amount of $1.2 million in order to submit a balanced budget. OSPI would also provide the district with additional oversight and counsel to support it in returning to a financially healthy position.
The $1,219,012 amount the district wants to account for stems from its minimum fund balance policy, which uses 5% of its budgeted expenditures to continue essential operations in critical times and to address emergency situations. The district has to set aside $4,728,512 for its minimum fund balance policy, as well as over $1.2 million for inventory, prepaid items, carryovers, transfers and other items. Carrougher said the district has no control over these amounts.
“The value of our inventory is what it is. Our prepaid items are those things that we’re paying for now that are actually for next school year and coming out of next year’s budget,” she said. “We have certain programs such as CTE (career technical education) and some of our grants that if we don’t spend them all, we carry them over and they have to be spent on those programs.”
But the district also has an unassigned fund balance of $7,155,524, which subtracts from the other figures to create the $1,219,012 budgeted ending fund balance.
“The unassigned fund balance would be money to use on any things that aren’t set aside as restricted, so we don’t have anything that we could use our fund balance other than those deficits,” Carrougher said. “That’s why we are petitioning to budget receivables.”
The petition comes as YCS faces a projected budget deficit of $8,250,975, according to numbers presented during its July 18 meeting. As the district continues to make decisions on cuts and staffing, and negotiations with unions continue, these numbers will change.
YCS will hold a budget study session at 4 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 15, at the district office before recommending it for adoption the following week on Thursday, Aug. 22.
