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Stevenson-Carson board moves to address roughly $430,000 SRS funding shortfall
Summary
The board was told a recent apportionment cut leaves the district about $430,000 short in SRS funds, money usually earmarked for capital projects; Superintendent Ingrid Colvard will pursue fixes with state and federal lawmakers and use the loss when applying for grants.
The Stevenson-Carson School District learned May 14 that apportionments from the Statewide School Apportionment (SRS) will leave the district roughly $430,000 short of expected revenue, Superintendent Ingrid Colvard told the board.
Colvard said Skamania County collects SRS receipts and distributes the remainder among local districts; a prior county settlement caps county school losses at 30 percent and limited a larger reduction this cycle. Colvard said she will work with Representative Waters and Senator Harris and will travel to Washington, D.C., next week to press for a legislative fix and to seek future SRS funding. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has apologized for not notifying the district in advance of the apportionment change, the superintendent said.
Board members and district staff tied the shortfall to capital-project planning. The district typically treats SRS receipts as a capital-projects revenue source, not as stable operational funding, and Colvard said the loss reinforces that SRS is unreliable for staffing costs. Mark Chambers acknowledged Kathy McKee and Colvard for catching the discrepancy and for diligent financial oversight.
Colvard said the district will prioritize projects within available modernization and grant funding, forecasting that the $430,000 gap will require dividing projects into smaller phases and seeking additional grant support. No formal policy change or vote was taken; the board directed the superintendent to pursue legislative remedies and to use the shortfall as background when applying for future grants.
