Eatonville district projects tight 2025–26 budget as enrollment shifts and state aid lag

The Eatonville School District projected a slim ending general-fund balance for 2025–26 on Tuesday, driven by declining enrollment, a shift of students to higher-cost alternative-learning programs and what staff described as inadequate increases in state material, supplies and operating cost (MSOC) funding.

Krista Hearsink, who led the budget presentation, told the school board the district currently shows an overspending variance of $351,000 for July but has encumbrances that staff expect to liquidate. She said the district may need an “apportionment advancement” — an early draw on state apportionment — in months when expenditures exceed revenues, particularly in late spring.

The risk, Hearsink said, is amplified by a structural shift in enrollment. The district ended 2023–24 with movement from basic education into alternative learning (ALE), which “is a much more costly program to run,” she said. That shift reduced staffing allocations and raised per‑student operating costs even when state per‑student apportionments stayed the same. Hearsink reported a targeted fund‑balance goal of 2.9 days of cash on hand but said the budget as presented assumes a more conservative 2.7 percent fund balance.

Board members and staff discussed the state funding picture at…