Peninsula School District CFO outlines fiscal picture: enrollment up slightly, long‑running state funding gaps persist

At the Peninsula School District board meeting the district’s chief financial officer gave a detailed monthly and year‑end financial review that highlighted modest near‑term variance, steady enrollment and structural funding gaps carried for several years.

CFO Ashley Murphy reported that as of the monthly snapshot (month ending Oct. 31, 2025) the district had collected roughly 18.8% of its budgeted revenues and expended about 16.3% of its budgeted expenditures. She told trustees the district’s actual FTE for the prior year landed at 8,646 (versus a budgeted 8,616) and that for the current year November enrollment stood about 8,808 FTE, roughly 30 FTE over the budgeted projection—figures that drive state apportionment and local planning.

Murphy outlined several long‑running state underfunding shortfalls the district is tracking: transportation (approximately $3.35 million underfunded), material/supplies/operating costs (MSOCs) (approximately $55.8 million short over multiple years) and special education (about $21.5 million short over the period shown in the district slides). She said some one‑time state allocations and program realignments helped in 2024‑25, but the structural deficit remains.

On revenue composition, Murphy said local taxes and state apportionment are close to budgeted levels and federal resources were lower than anticipated due to timing and delayed federal packages, which she expected to be trued up later in the fiscal year. On expenditures she noted a mix of variances across object codes: certified salaries under budget in some contract lines, but higher contracted purchase services and substitute costs. The district is using transfers from the capital projects fund to the general fund to account for items coded to capital that must initially hit general fund lines.

Murphy described the capital projects fund and noted the district aims to spend bond and capital levy dollars down over time to avoid arbitrage compliance issues, and said the capital fund showed a larger ending balance than originally budgeted given project timing. She flagged legislative priorities the district will track in the coming session—most notably increased funding for substitutes, MSOCs, and continued attention to special education funding.

Trustees asked clarifying questions about timing for state true‑ups, substitute funding and how the district accounts for transfers between funds. Murphy said the district will continue to monitor revenue and expenditure trends and report back, and that union bargaining and salary negotiations for future years will affect staffing and budget planning.