$1 million deficit predicted for Chimacum schools budget

CHIMACUM — The Chimacum School District faces a $1 million deficit in revenue in its 2019-20 budget.

The district has predicted revenue of $13.47 million and planned expenditures of $14.48 million, according to the budget proposed by Financial Director Art Clarke and discussed at the School Board’s meeting last week.

Public comment and more in-depth discussion on the proposed budget will occur at the next board meeting at 6 p.m. July 24 at 91 West Valley Road.

The proposed budget can be viewed on the school district website under the July 10 Board of Education Agenda.

Clarke attributes the deficit to a combination of enrollment loss, drop in state funding and changes to levy laws which mean that the school will receive only $2.1 million of the 2020 $3.7 million levy that voters approved.

The district is not receiving the full amount of the levy because of state levy rollback laws that mean that they are not receiving as much taxed income as a result of the “McCleary fix,” Clarke said.

The McCleary fix was the state Legislature’s compromise for complying with a state Supreme Court order that the state pay for basic education, an order known as the McCleary decision.

The McCleary fix capped how much funding a school can receive as a result of local taxes in the community, which has had the bigger impact on the smaller school districts than ones with a high student population, Clarke said.

Before the McCleary fix, the districts would either roll back $1.50 per assessed $1,000 value to the state or pay $2,500 per student in the district.

Since then, the rollback is $2.50 per $1,000 or $2,500 per student. Chimacum School District is a $2,500-per-student district, Clarke said.

The rollback amount didn’t change for the district, what did change was the amount of funds they would have normally received from taxes on the community, which the legislative action limited and scaled back.

For the deficit to improve, changes need to be made, Clarke said.

The school district needs to increase enrollment, keep its Learning Assistance Program (LAP) High Poverty grants and apply for more Safety Net Funding, he said, adding it also needs to improve the filing of IEP forms (Individualized Education Program forms for special education students.)

For the school to even maintain revenue, officials need to encourage more parents to apply for the free and reduced lunch program, which would allow the district to keep its LAP High Poverty grants — which requires 50 percent of the enrolled students to be on the free- and reduced-lunch program for three years to qualify — Clarke said.

The LAP High Poverty grant gives funds to the district to assist with academic interventions for English language arts and math, behavior interventions, transition services for students and other student services to benefit learning, according to the LAP website.

Clarke said that enrollment levels have been decreasing at a faster rate than he predicted. Total enrollment in the Chimacum School District was 938.65 full-time equivalents for the 2017-18 school year.

Only 767 students are predicted to be enrolled for the 2019-20 school year.

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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5 or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.