Human capital audit warns of staffing strain as enrollment falls

Matt Ellis, director of human resources for the Richland School District, presented a second draft of a human capital audit and warned that modest enrollment declines, when aggregated across the district, create "millions of dollars" in revenue loss and challenge the current staffing model.

Ellis said the draft adds histograms and a "prototypical plus" staffing model that layers categorical funding on top of a baseline prototypical school to help the district compare staffing needs across small and large buildings. "The state really doesn't fund that adequately," Ellis said of programmatic (special education and highly capable) funding, and he urged the board to account for locally bargained contracts and local levy support when planning.

Why it matters: The audit focuses on staffing because salary costs make up roughly 80% of district expenditures, Ellis said, so even small per-class enrollment shifts can create large budget gaps. The draft separates district-office administration, online and alternative learning programs, and special education/highly capable analyses so each can be evaluated on its own staffing and funding profile.

Board members pressed for clarity on how the audit treats combined classes and low-enrollment elective sections. One board member noted that histograms sometimes represent combined classes (for example, German 1 and German 2) as separate low-count sections; Ellis said those appearances often reflect master-schedule placeholders and the district's use of running start, Tri-Tech and other programs.

The audit also reports school-level per-pupil cost examples. Ellis pointed to one figure in the draft showing a price per pupil of $18,173 at William Wiley, which he described as roughly a break-even figure before additional allocations for special education or Title I are applied.

Several board members asked how the audit will be used in decision-making. Ellis and other board members agreed the audit is intended to inform administration and strategic planning rather than to be a prescriptive board mandate. "This information sharing with other departments...is a team effort," Ellis said, adding that implementation decisions will require collaboration with labor partners.

Next steps: Ellis said he will incorporate board feedback and return with additional components, including a staffing-model recommendation and a clearer graphic showing state-funded FTE versus actual FTE by employee group. Board members requested a more explicit breakdown of funding variances by role (teachers, principals, assistants, counselors, nurses, psychologists) and the reasons for those variances.

The board did not take formal action on the audit at this meeting; staff characterized the next step as producing a final draft that administrators can use to make staffing recommendations.