Olympia School District ending fund balance at $10.18M for 2023-24

The Olympia School District's (OSD) ending fund balance for the 2023-24 school year was $10,186,316, Executive Director of Finance & Capital Planning Kate Davis said at a meeting of the OSD Board of Directors on Thursday, Dec. 12.

The school year’s beginning fund balance was at $9,593,810, total revenues at $165,108,946 and other financing sources at $919,452. Total expenditures weighed in at $165,435,891.  

A report on the issue stated expenditures stayed flat for two main reasons: cuts made by the district and state reductions to pension rates. 

“I also want us to keep in mind that of that $10 million fund balance, only $8.6 million is unassigned. You can't use all of that $10 million,” Davis said. 

The net change in the fund balance was $592,506, amounting to a 6.2% of the fund balance

Expenditure by activity 

The bulk of 2023-24 expenditures were on Teaching and Teaching Support activities, which increased from 71.5% to 72.2%.  

Teaching and Teaching Support expenses include classroom and specialist teachers, counselors, librarians, professional development, assessment and curriculum. Pupil management and safety, health-related services and activities/athletics support are also included. 

“Our focus has remained on teaching and teaching support,” said Davis. “Those activities stayed at from 71.5% to 72.2% when you add the two of them together.” 

Other Support Activities increased from 15.44% to 16.2% mostly attributed to utilities, insurance and food costs increases.  

“Our food cost did go up about $140,000. Transportation also went up about $100,000,” Davis said. 

Central Administration expenses were reduced from 6.7% to 5.5% due to positions being cut in Business Services, Human Resources, Transportation Administration, and Teaching and Learning. School administration expenditures were also reduced from 6.4% to 6.1%. 

“We also looked at the classification of all the positions that we have here. … So really aligning to the state accounting manual … rereading OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) guidance and looking at what folks are doing and aligning to that,” Davis said. 

Expenditure by object 

The district’s largest expense was compensation-related, amounting to $72,108,000 for certified staff salaries and $28,265,000 for classified staff salaries. Expenses for employee benefits amounted to $36,284,000. 

“Compensation is always going to be our largest share. Compensation salaries went from 60.6% to 61.7. But our benefits really dropped, and that is because the state cut pension rates,” Davis explained. 

The district spent $9.7 million for pension contributions this year, down from $13.8 million last year. 

The change in funding came after the change in cost, as the law aligns the funding rate with the employer contribution rate. 

“The Legislature changed pension contribution rates for employers, without changing the rates paid by staff. Because the district has more staff than funded by the state and pays higher salaries, this change in rates resulted in savings,” the report stated. 

Davis explained a decrease in cost works out well for the district, as rising costs would mean the district paying higher benefits when it funds more staff from a local levy.  

“The state is not going to fund us for costs that we're not incurring. So that was part of the drop in state apportionment. But it also means that we need to be careful. When those rates do go up, then we will have to find that funding,” Davis said. 

Another highlighted part was the expenses for services which went up $1.8 million, from $19,072,000 to $20,874,000. Goods amounted to $5,930,000 while Travel & Capital Outlays amounted to $208,000.