Budget Planning
Lake Washington School District (LWSD) is asking for your partnership as we work to balance our budget and develop a strategic plan over the next year to ensure that:
- We are funding our priorities.
- Our work and decisions are transparent
History has taught us that planning ahead for fiscal challenges may be hard in the short-term, but is essential for the long-term health of our district.
Presentations have been given on an ongoing basis at school board study sessions and meetings regarding our financial outlook for the next several years.
As outlined in these presentations, our district 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.
Chris Reykdal, our State Superintendent of Public Instruction has called the current budget situation for Washington school districts a "perfect storm." Many districts are facing financial distress. Thankfully, Lake Washington School District is in a better position than many other districts due to our long-range financial planning and our smaller enrollment declines.
The combination of factors listed below has resulted in budget issues for many districts in our state:
- Declining enrollment
- Rising costs (inflation)
- Continued lack of "full funding" from the state
- Limited local levy capacity (due to enrollment loss)
Like our neighboring districts, LWSD needs to take steps to bring expenditures in alignment with revenues. The earlier we plan for these changes, the easier it will be to minimize impacts to programs and continue momentum toward a balanced budget.