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Interim Superintendent Carol Lewis Details $20 Million Shortfall at Moses Lake School District
Summary
Interim Superintendent Carol Lewis said levy failures and a series of accounting and enrollment reporting errors produced roughly $20 million in reduced operating resources for 2024–25, and described spending freezes, staffing cuts and new controls the district has put in place to stabilize finances.
Interim Superintendent Carol Lewis told community audiences in October that Moses Lake School District’s operating budget for 2024–25 is roughly $20 million smaller than the previous year because two failed levies and a set of accounting and enrollment reporting errors reduced available revenue and required immediate corrections.
Lewis said the district lost about $4,000,000 in expected levy revenue after voters rejected measures run in February and April 2024, and because no levy passed the district will not receive about $4,200,000 in state local-effort-assistance for calendar year 2025. She summarized the remainder of the shortfall as $2,100,000 tied to an enrollment reporting correction and roughly $9,900,000 from accrual-accounting errors, for a total of about $20.3 million.
Why it matters: State funding is tied to student counts and makes up the majority of a district’s general fund; Lewis said an overcount of 207 students and unreversed accruals created large retrospective funding corrections…
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