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Tacoma Public Schools highlights transportation, special education budget pressures in monthly financial update
Summary
Kari Campan presented year-to-date December financials, noting timing mismatches between revenues and expenses, rising costs for special education and transportation, and mitigation steps including route efficiency and a community budget committee.
Kari Campan, director of strategic financial operations for Tacoma Public Schools, presented the district’s year-to-date financial report through December at the Jan. 23 board meeting and warned of continuing budget pressures tied to the state funding model, transportation and special education costs.
Campan said the district accounts operate like separate “checkbooks” and that local tax receipts arrive on schedules that do not match day-to-day operations. “The timing of the revenues that we receive don't always match the expenditures that we have,” she said, noting property-tax payments arrive twice a year and some categorical funding is based on last year’s figures.
Campan told the board that transportation funding is particularly challenging because the district receives revenue based on prior-year data while paying current-year transportation costs. She said the district has about 10% more special education students using transportation services this year than was assumed in last year’s revenue calculations.
Campan listed mitigation steps including monthly meetings between the budget team and program managers, route efficiency work to lower transportation costs, lean-efficiency practices and legislative outreach seeking fuller funding for core services. She also described plans to convene a community budget committee to involve residents in budget prioritization.
Superintendent Josh Garcia told the board the district is in a “dangerous place” with its fund balance and urged realistic expectations about state budget solutions. Board members asked about possible state cuts and the district’s contingency planning; Campan said the budget office models both “high potential and low potential” outcomes based on available information.
Campan walked the board through the district’s four‑year budget model and said the published financials show a projected positive fund balance impact under optimistic revenue assumptions, but cautioned that the state’s upcoming legislative decisions introduce significant uncertainty. She also flagged rising benefit and nutrition-service costs that are not fully covered by current reimbursements.
No budget vote was taken at the meeting. Campan said the district will continue refinement of forecasts, community outreach and the formal budgeting cycle in the months ahead.
