Vancouver interim superintendent warns district will seek to expand general-fund spending authority ahead of July hearing

Interim Superintendent Brett Lech Schmidt told the Vancouver Public Schools Board of Directors on June 17 that the district will recommend formally increasing its general-fund expenditure capacity at the board’s July meeting to cover higher-than-anticipated costs.

Schmidt said the board will hold a public hearing on the matter and is scheduled to adopt the required state document and resolution in July, after staff completes a line-by-line accounting of revenues and costs.

Schmidt framed the request as largely procedural but driven by several converging financial pressures. He said the district hired staff in the fall to meet stronger-than-budgeted September enrollment, noting “we did end up with about 137 more students in that basic ed core group.” That earlier hiring, he said, produced recurring salary costs the district had expected to cover with sustained…