Marguerite Roza and Ash Dhammani:
Spending choices must prioritize students without angering communities.
Talk about a thankless job. In Washington state, school district budgeting has suddenly become much more difficult.
After more than a decade of strong revenue growth, districts are facing deficits. In 2013, the average expenditure per student in Washington was $9,600. Since then, the Legislature has steadily increased funding for schools. Then came federal pandemic relief funds. In this last school year, Washington schools averaged over $18,000 per student. That’s an 89% increase (far outpacing inflation at 32%).
Flush with cash, districts could bring on new staff. Our state’s schools now employ over 20,000 more people than they did a decade ago (a jump of 20% even as enrollment grew only by 3%). Leaders could make employees happy by giving out pay raises: Washington’s average teacher pay is currently $86,804—the 4th highest in the nation.
But the era of big year-over-year spending increases has ended. Federal relief funds disappear in September. Enrollments are projected to drop 7% by the end of the decade. Even when state funds rise with inflation, fewer students mean fewer dollars; in the coming years many Washington districts will have no choice but to shrink programs, reduce staffing, and close schools.
Understandably, most leaders would rather avoid this part of the job. And many do, kicking the can down the road for others to deal with. But delaying only makes it worse.