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Edmonds schools meet K3 standard, but fuel costs and electric-bus funding remain challenges, finance director says
Summary
Executive Director Lydia Seli reported the district met K3 compliance at 16.96, a change that increases funding, and warned that fuel costs and electric-bus purchases and infrastructure (charging stations, utility coordination) remain budget pressures; net enrollment fell 89 students from January to February, she said.
Executive Director of Business and Finance Lydia Seli told the Edmonds School District Board of Directors that the district's required state reporting shows K3 compliance at an average class-size figure of 16.96, a level that will increase state funding beginning next month. She presented the business-and-finance report at the board's regular meeting on May 1.
Seli framed the update as mixed news: the K3 compliance figure improves the district's funding position, but transportation and fuel costs are an ongoing pressure on the general fund. "When we first ran the report, it did not look like we were meeting K3 compliance... And after the last adjustments were made, we met K3 compliance at 16.96," she said.
Enrollment trends: Seli reported a net decrease of 89 students between January and February, with variation across school levels and no single, discernible reason. She said some students shifted among district schools or to e-learning programs; the district is doing school-level drilldowns for larger changes.
Electric buses and replacement funding: Board members asked whether the district is revisiting electric buses given current fuel prices. Seli said state funding adjustments have lengthened the payback model the state uses (what the district described as a depreciation-like allocation): long-bus payback terms shifted from 13 to 15 years and small buses from 8 to 10 years. She said electric vehicles are expensive — "on average, a large electric vehicle costs over 350 to 400,000" — require new infrastructure and take roughly 13 hours to fully charge under currently available vehicles in Washington. The district is pursuing grants but expects limited eligibility and will need coordination with the local utility for charging capacity.
Budget framing and next steps: Seli said some statewide retirement-rate changes offset payroll-cost increases and that fund-balance trends are roughly consistent with recent months. She said if the district exceeds transportation budgets this year, state adjustments would not be accommodated until 2026–27 under current OSPI funding rules. The board asked staff to continue monitoring enrollment and bus-replacement funding options and to pursue grant opportunities where available.
The board did not take a separate vote on the finance items during the presentation; the report was received and followed by discussion and questions from directors.
