MLSD passes budget, appoints new board member

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake School District passed its budget Thursday night meeting in which all four school board members voted yes on the budget proposal. A double maintenance and operations levy failure and accounting discrepancies caused significant difficulty in establishing a budget for the 2024-25 school year.

The MLSD also appointed its fifth board member, Ryan Coulston, with three yes votes and one no vote from Paul Hill. Amy Breitenstein, Carla Urias and Board Chair Kirryn Jensen all voted in favor of Coulston's appointment.

The funds will be predominantly coming from the State of Washington at around $118.2 million, or 87.15% of the district’s budget. The district will receive 7.77% of its funds federally at about $10.5 million. Local funds account for 4.84% of the budget at around $6.6 million, mostly from the last levy that passed and is set to expire at the end of this calendar year. Other refunds account for 0.24% of funds at $325,000.

“I feel really good that we have a clear path to move forward,” Interim MLSD Superintendent Carol Lewis said. “Overall, I think there was a lot in this meeting, and I think that it’s good that our community is voicing all of its concerns and we’re having an opportunity to address them.”

MLSD plans on trying to pass a levy in February to help it regain funds. However, several members of the board expressed concerns about community trust. Especially with the maintenance and operations levy failing twice in February and April, a sign of that lack of trust. If the levy does pass it will allow for $5.2 million for 2025-26, $10.5 million for 2026-27 and $11.5 million for 2027-28.

“Currently, I don't think we’ll ever pass a levy until we can show accountability and transparency, right,” Hill said. “We have a lot of work to do between now and February, right? Because this levy would have to pass in February to even have the money for 25/26.”

Funds the district has will predominantly go to salaries and employee benefits which will make up about 83% of the budget at almost $112.4 million. The rest will be spent on supplies and materials at $5.3 million, purchased services at almost $17.6 million, travel at around $275,000 and capital outlay at $202,500. All these expenditures went down between the budget for the 2023-24 school year and the budget for the 2024-25 school year, except travel and capital outlay.

“Remember when I showed that we actually spent, I don’t have it right in front of me, it was 500,000 something,” Lewis said. “This is about half of what we spent on travel last year. That was the budget, not what we spent.”

There was a decrease of about 550 students from last school year to the upcoming 2024-25 school year, according to information from MLSD. This year there will be 8,284 students projected to attend the Moses Lake School District. The district’s state funding is determined through apportionment – a set amount per student served.

There was also a staffing decrease of more than 100 certified staff members, leaving the district to employ 522 certified staff members. The staff projections will not go up until the 2026-27 school year.

“I kept the staff the same for 24/25 and 25/26, I have said it before, we got to dig our way out of the hole before we can actually start to expand,” MLSD Executive Director of Finance Mitch Thompson said.

Thompson began working for the district recently after the departure of Stefanie Lowery and Jeremy O’Neil, the district’s former finance director and COO, respectively.

The district is supposed to have a 12.5% ending fund balance, however, even in four years it is estimated that it will still be shy of $3 million, less than the 12.5% goal. This estimate is based upon conservative estimates for revenues and steady increases in expenditures and will be adjusted over time, according to Thompson’s presentation.

During board comments, Hill asked that the district consider a forensic audit and be willing to prosecute as needed. He said the district must find out who and how the financial problems arose before checks and balances as well as public trust can be established.

“I have to apologize and say, a lot of this, not all of it, by any means, but a lot of this has happened on my watch. I’ve sat here through two prior meetings, budget meetings. It’s good, pass it, it’s fine and never questioned,” Hill said. “We have a huge issue ahead of us and that’s public trust and that’s our levy. I feel that if we’re going to regain the trust of our community that this district needs to consider a good forensic audit.”