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Seattle school leaders warn of structural deficit and outline mix of one-time and ongoing fixes
Summary
Superintendent Schulner and finance lead Dr. Kurt Buttleman told the board a multi-year structural deficit is draining the district's fund balance; officials projected an updated year-end fund balance near $55 million after refining estimates and outlined one-time revenue and structural savings to avoid hitting zero.
Superintendent Schulner told the Seattle School District No. 1 board at a special study session that the district faces a multi-year structural deficit and must take immediate steps to avoid exhausting its fund balance.
"The moment you hit 0, the game is over," Schulner said, describing a scenario that would force borrowing and could trigger state intervention. He showed a multi-year chart that, he said, reflects a drop in reserves from about $175,000,000 in FY22 for a roughly $1.35 billion budget toward a vulnerable projection if no action is taken.
Dr. Kurt Buttleman, who presented the projection assumptions, said the district's earlier projection of about $28 million for the end of the current year was based on last year's inputs posted to OSPI; newer information has led staff to refine that to roughly $55 million. "The 55,000,000 is what we're projecting now based on the new information we have," he said.
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