PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles School Board unanimously approved a budget extension of $3.5 million to account for unanticipated expenses this past school year and discussed the preliminary 2024-2025 budget and four-year budget projection.
Board president Sarah Methner, Sandy Long and Kirsten Williams voted for the extension on Thursday; directors Mary Herbert and Stan Williams had excused absences.
State law requires districts to report anticipated revenue and expenditures for the entire year prior to the start of the school year. If revenues or expenditures exceed the amount that was reported, the school board must approve an extension.
It is not uncommon for districts to encounter unforeseen expenses, said Karen Casey, the district’s director of finance and operations.
“Our budget we build every year is based on assumptions, and obviously we do that the best that we can,” she said.
The district’s expenses for 2023-2024 were $3.04 million above what it had budgeted.
“By requesting the $3.5 million, it will allow additional capacity so we know we can meet these expenses and we won’t have to go to the state and ask for another extension,” Casey said.
Among the $1.3 million in instruction-related expenses the district did not foresee were new contracts with teachers, paraeducators, support staff and other bargaining units, sick leave cashouts, and caseloads for special education instructors, nurses and speech-language pathologists.
Special education and behavior specialist support services and attorney fees accounted for another $1.6 million that was not in the budget.
The district also realized $1.3 million in revenue that it didn’t expect that came from a number of sources, including interest from an investment pool, school meals reimbursement and grants.
Superintendent Marty Brewer said most of the increases in expenditures were related to student well-being.
“This year our student needs were incredibly high, not just in SPED (special education) but across the board,” he said. “Our district worked really hard to try to provide the support where it could to help staff and students, but that comes at a cost.”
He cautioned that there is no leeway in the 2024-2025 budget for that level of spending.
“The flexibility to be able to do that in the future is no more,” Brewer said. “The only thing that could change that is increased enrollment.”
The $61.6 million 2024-2025 budget will have a surplus of $13,316. Casey said it would not meet the board’s minimum fund balance goal of 4.2 percent of its total budgeted expenses.
In building the budget, Casey said the district looked closely at likely cost increases in areas such as insurance, attorney fees, special education support and fuel.
State support would constitute 78 percent of district revenue followed by the voter-approved educational operations and programs levy at 9 percent. The district will spend $2.11 million — or 38 percent — of the $5.6 million in levy funds on special education costs.
A replacement levy on November’s general election ballot would raise $35 million over four years to pay for programs and positions the state does not fully or only partially funds, such as sports, arts and music programs, technology and school counselors. However, unless school funding from the state increases, particularly for special education, directors said the budget squeeze would continue.
“We can’t keep coming back to the community for basic education,” Methner said. “The percentage of the state budget dedicated to education was 55 percent and it’s now 42 percent.”
The district’s four-year projected budget anticipates a continued decline in enrollment, reductions in staffing and continuing pressure to meet implicit price deflator/cost-of-living adjustments.
“This is the tightest budget I’ve ever had to work with,” Brewer said.
Community members can review the 2024-2025 preliminary and four-year projected budget and offer their comments to the board at their Aug. 22 meeting. The budgets can be found at tinyurl.com/tth6vh92.
The board unanimously agreed to an appendix to its memorandum of understanding with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe that will dedicate a Klallam language and culture teacher to Stevens Middle School for the 2024-2025 school year.
Student demand led to the decision, said Carmen Watson-Charles, the district’s Native American liaison.
“Klallam language has grown a lot since we started at the middle school, and it just boomed at the high school,” Watson-Charles said.
Current Klallam language and culture teacher Wendy Sampson will continue working at the high school, while another Klallam language teacher will assume her duties at Stevens.
Assistant Superintendent Michelle Olsen updated the board on the multi-tiered system of supports framework that it is implementing with the help of nearly $1 million in grant assistance. The program will help teachers develop strategies for assisting students with academic, social and behavioral challenges.
This year the district focus will be on the first of the three tiers, which involve broad-based strategies for students, such as setting expectations for behavior and providing professional development for teachers.
Olsen said a new health class being offered this fall for seventh-graders came about after looking at survey data showing rates of student e-cigarette and alcohol use increasing from sixth to eighth grades. District rates were higher compared to statewide averages.
“There are just so many different things coming at our students, and we want to provide as much support as we can to enable them to make healthy choices,” Olsen said. “We know that when they make healthy choices, they’re going to do better in school and in life.”
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
