Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the District Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Kennewick School District previews 2025–26 budget, projects smaller-than-expected deficit amid revenue changes
Summary
Kennewick School District budget staff said on March 27 that updated revenues and enrollment projections have narrowed the district’s previously forecast $5.5 million shortfall to roughly $1 million for the current year, but warned that pending state funding decisions make the 2025–26 plan uncertain.
District finance staff told the Kennewick School District Board of Directors that the district’s preliminary budget work for 2025–26 shows revenues improving from earlier projections but significant uncertainty because the state legislative session continues.
Tom Brillhart, presenting the district’s preliminary budget, said that updated property-tax receipts and enrollment trends have narrowed the district’s projected shortfall: “We budgeted last year … an expected deficit of $5,500,000. But as of right now, we’re trending at about a deficit of about a million,” Brillhart said, attributing the change mainly to higher-than-expected revenue and stable expenditures.
Brillhart reviewed several items that will shape the final budget: expected state changes to MSOC (maintenance, supplies and operating costs) funding, potential adjustments to special-education multipliers, employer benefit and retirement rates, and transportation funding. He said the district was using a working assumption of roughly a 3% increase in MSOC funding in current legislative proposals but cautioned that bills were still being amended and could change day-to-day.
On enrollment, the presenter said the district currently projects a small decline in basic education enrollment that would reduce revenue by an estimated $300,000. Special-education enrollment was reported down about 60 students compared with the prior year, which also affects state formula calculations. Brillhart said probable staffing reductions would be handled through attrition: the district is planning for the equivalent of about three certificated elementary positions (K–5) and a half position at grades 6–12 to reflect projected enrollment shifts. He emphasized that these were position changes resulting from attrition, not layoffs.
Other financial details reported to the board included: an estimated contribution of about $14,136 per employee for health insurance in the district’s current calculation; a planned $450,000 increase in certificated/classified pools (covering overloads, substitutes and coaching stipends); and a projected additional $300,000 in EP&O (educational programs and operations) levy receipts for the remainder of 2025.
Brillhart said the timeline remains dependent on the Legislature and urged the board to plan for a public hearing on the 2025–26 budget at the board’s June 18 meeting. He closed by reiterating that the district would continue to update assumptions as the Legislature finalizes funding.
Ending
Superintendent and finance staff said they will return to the board with updated revenue and expenditure assumptions after the Legislature concludes and prior to the June public hearing.
