Effective Use of Resources

Effective Use of Resources – We believe that using our resources responsibly and strategically will result in success for our students. As a publicly-funded organization, we must be efficient and effective in our use of public resources to ensure and maintain trust.

Here are some of the initiatives for 2023-24 around Effective Use of Resources:

Started our second six-year cycle of the lifecycle painting program. Every interior wall across the district will be re-painted over the next six years. The first cycle ended in 2022-23.
Continued to engage with FloAnalytics to enhance enrollment forecasting and provide innovative mapping tools.
Continued to use animal codes on our buses to help younger students ensure they are on the right bus before/after school.
Continued to provide the Free & Reduced Lunch application online to be more convenient for families.
Received the Meritorious Budget Award for the seventh-straight year in 2023-24.
Expanded online payment capability to elementary schools to provide enhanced customer service.
Continued to use Bonfire software for contract management and Request for Proposals (RFPs).

Financial Information:

In 2023-24 the District continued its process to align all budget additions with strategic goals. LWSD is currently fiscally stable. LWSD has been intentionally using budget reserves over the last two years. We will need to balance our budget to align funding received with expenditures over the next two years. We have created a budget planning website to share additional details and transparency around the work that we are doing to ensure fiscal stability for the 2025-26 school year and beyond.

The LWSD Budget has received the Meritorious Budget Award (MBA) from The Association of School Business Officials International for the past seven years. This award recognizes excellence in school budget presentation. The MBA requires school districts to meet stringent criteria to promote budget alignment to district goals, providing additional information and transparency to the community about how taxpayer dollars are spent, and providing a reader-friendly budget document.

Revenue – Where does the money come from?

State Apportionment - 60.7%
Provides the largest portion, 60.7 percent, of Lake Washington School District’s general fund revenue. Apportionment is otherwise known as state general purpose funding. The amount is determined by the number of students attending our schools and a series of formula factors including legislatively set base salaries, employee benefits and non-labor allocations.

Levy - 16.0%
Provides 16.0 percent of budgeted revenues. Levy amounts are capped by the legislature and must be approved by Lake Washington District voters at a special election.

State Categorical - 12.2%
Provides 12.2 percent of budgeted revenues. These are categorical funds that come from the state for programs such as special education, pupil transportation, English Learners education, learning assistance, and education enhancements. Most of these revenues are given for a specific program and are not available for other purposes.

Fee Programs - 4.8%
Generates 4.8 percent of local non-tax funds for programs such as sales of school lunches, extended day care, athletic participation and preschool. Also included are investment interest earnings and donations.

Federal Funds - 4.4%
Comprises 4.4 percent of our revenues. These monies fund programs such as Title I and Head Start. They also provide supplemental funding for special education programs and support free and reduced lunches in the nutrition services program. These revenues may only be used for their specific program purpose.

Other School District, Agencies & Financing Sources - 1.9%
Payments from other districts for participation in joint programs, grants from other non-state agencies and transfers from the Capital Levy for Technology Training & Applications, accounts for 1.9 percent of budgeted revenues.

Expenditures – Where does the money go?

Total Teaching - 77.4%
This portion of the district’s budget is spent in and on the classroom, including expenditures for teachers, counselors, librarians, educational assistants, teaching supplies, materials, textbooks, instructional staff development, assessment and curriculum development. Also included are expenditures for pupil management and safety, health-related services, activities/athletics support and supervision, and community services and programs.

Building Administration - 6.4%
This segment covers building administration, including principals, and school support, such as secretaries and office supplies.

Maintenance & Operations - 5.0%
These expenses include costs to maintain the district’s facilities. This segment covers grounds and building maintenance, cleaning services, utilities costs and building and property security.

Central Administration – 4.7%
These expenses include development, coordination and evaluation of instructional programs by the superintendent and central office. Also included are business and human resources, supervision for nutrition services, maintenance and transportation, communications and legal costs.

Other – 2.7%
These expenses include property and liability insurance, information systems, printing, warehouse and distribution services. Also included are expenses related to the Extended Day program, which provides fee-based before and after school care for students.

Transportation – 2.1%
This segment includes the operations, maintenance and insurance for transporting students.

Nutrition Services – 1.7%
This segment includes the costs for food and operations for the district lunch and breakfast program.

The District continues to have the highest credit rating assigned to any school district in the state (shared only by two others). We continue to meet or exceed our minimum 5% fund balance requirement. Fiscal responsibility is of utmost importance to the district.

All Funds 2023-24	Beginning Fund Balance	Revenues	Expenditures	Ending Fund Balance
General	$49,200,000	$548,538,374	$556,155,096	$14,583,278
ASB	$1,685,149	$6,999,547	$7,490,351	$1,194,345
Debt Service	$30,549,043	$65,419,942	$71,069,833	$24,896,152
Capital	$45,724,984	$158,130,990	$125,843,113	$55,119,951
Transportation Vehicle	$3,125,580	$1,510,195	$2,239,573	$2,396,202