Enumclaw Schools Looks to Spend $2 Million in Reserves to Balance Budget

The Enumclaw School Board will discuss Monday, Aug. 15, using
almost $2 million in reserves to balance the district budget for 2011-2012.

The regular board meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. at the district office. Thebudget hearing is near the top of the agenda.

The district’s general fund has revenues of $41,258,296 while expenditures are at $43,248,581. Reserves would drop from about $4
million to about $2 million.

District Budget Director Tim Madden doesn’t foresee any problems with the board in using the reserves because they have been kept abreast
of the situation.

“Looking at past budgets, this has often been the case,” he said of needing to plan to use reserves. “The nice thing is we’ve ommunicated
all along. They will not be surprised. This is realistic.”

He added however, that often the budget fluctuates and the district doesn’t have to end up using as much as planned.

One of the unknowns as school gets ready to start in three weeks is enrollment, which is a major factor in getting state, local and federal funding. Currently, the district is planning a decreased enrollment of
about 80 students, which would amount to about $400,000 less in funding. Also, the district is dealing with another $400,000 in cuts for the elimination of enhanced kindergarten through fourth grade funding. Federal stimulus funding of $455,000 also was cut, for a total of $1.3 million.

In his budget summary, Superintendent Mike Nelson says the district looked for cuts that would have the least amount of impact on
students, which included some realignment of staff. Madden noted at a previous meeting that budget reductions include building budgets, department reductions and eliminating four positions.

Madden said he feels good about the projections and noted that kindergarten numbers already have been met. He said only a few years ago there were 320 kindergarteners. This year the district is budgeting for 250 because of the lack of growth in the community.

Board member Chris VanHoof noted in the previous meeting the
significant increase in gifts and donations, from $122,000 in 2009-10 to nearly $570,000 last year.

“Our partnerships are critical, and it is important for people to know where the funding comes from. We can be creative, make things
visible and jump start conversations,” Nelson said at a previous meeting.

Other items on Monday’s agenda include: service animals in schools, education of students with disabilities and boundary changes.