A Washougal college board member is looking for extra transparency from district leaders, whom he claims did not notify the board in a well timed method a couple of monetary warning the district acquired from the Workplace of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Board member Jim Cooper mentioned throughout a Nov. 26 assembly that district directors knew concerning the warning in February however didn’t inform the board till October.
“It sounds like everyone except the board knew about it. The unions knew about it. We just weren’t told about it,” Cooper mentioned. “It’s inexplicable and inexcusable to me that the board was not told about the financial warning. … I have not pointed fingers (at) anybody but I think it’s critical that the board is in the loop when we get formal warnings from the state OSPI.”
The district acquired the monetary warning from OSPI’s Faculty District Monetary Well being Indicators Mannequin, which OSPI additionally posted to its web site in February. The warning signifies a district is dealing with potential difficulties primarily based on monetary reporting, in Washougal’s case primarily based on the 2022-23 college yr.
Interim Superintendent Aaron Hansen knowledgeable the board concerning the warning at its Oct. 22 assembly.
Communication Director Les Brown mentioned employees truly grew to become conscious that the district was on the warning record in March.
“It does not appear that OSPI sends any information to a district when they publish the list,” Brown mentioned. “We provided information to the community, via our website, about the financial warning, using the term ‘watch list’ as part of the round-two budget reductions information, which was posted on the website on May 10.”
OSPI’s system makes use of 4 weighted circumstances — fund stability to income ratio, expenditures to income ratio, days of money readily available and a four-year finances abstract plan.
The system assigns level values — 0 to 4 — to districts in every of the 4 classes. Every district’s complete rating is the sum of every indicator’s rating multiplied by the weighting issue. The mixed rating determines the district’s monetary well being class.
Districts with scores of 1.75 and decrease obtain a monetary warning. Nineteen of the 265 college districts in Washington acquired a warning for the 2022-23 college yr. Washougal scored 1.55. Forty-three districts, together with Mount Nice, acquired an ideal 4.0 rating. The one different district in Clark County to attain lower than 2.0 is Vancouver with a 1.90.
“The first is a warning — we got that,” Cooper mentioned through the Nov. 26 assembly. After the warning, if a district enters the second part it would lose native management over funds. If options can’t be discovered, a district could possibly be disbanded.
“After hearing about what’s happened in other districts around the state that go down into that ‘red zone,’ that’s not an experience any of us really want to participate in,” mentioned Cooper, who attended the Washington State Faculty Administrators Affiliation’s annual convention in November in Spokane. “I heard that next year, 10 percent of the school districts in the state, 30 districts, will be in binding conditions. That’s a big number. I just don’t want to be on that list.”
Cooper known as for district leaders to place collectively a monetary enchancment plan, together with growing its minimal fund stability — at present 6 % — to not less than 8 %.
Cooper additionally requested district leaders to supply the board with month-to-month finances reviews.
District leaders started offering updates throughout finances displays at college board conferences through the 2023-24 college yr, Brown mentioned.
Cooper mentioned the board didn’t obtain updates in 14 of 36 months between June 2019 and June 2023.
Brown mentioned district leaders will work to maintain the board knowledgeable about vital info.
“This includes sending the board information prior to it being shared with the community,” he mentioned. “In response to Jim’s request for more frequent updates and to receive information in a format that is easier to understand, district leadership will work on providing a concise monthly summary that provides board members with ready access to important information to make sure they’re well informed.”