La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

La Conner teachers welcome students back to class today, a return to full-time in-person instruction for the first time since March 2020.

But planning for the Sept. 1 back to school date has been weeks in the making, including a series of summer budget workshops and hearings capped by passage in late July of a balanced $14 million general fund budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year.

The school district anticipates $14,070,000 in revenues and expenditures of $14,022,000 during the ’21-’w22 year.

The budget was approved during a July 26 hybrid school board meeting with new district business manager Brian Gianello participating remotely from a conference he was attending.

“It’s a major accomplishment for a new business manager,” Gianello told board members they approved the budget.

The 217-page budget represents a fiscal game plan for the district going forward. That plan includes setting aside $200,000 for the capital projects fund and a commitment to maintain an ending fund balance equal to at least 10 per cent of projected revenues.

The new budget forecasts reserves starting at $1,600,000 and ending the year at $1,416,750.

The district’s fiscal plan also reflects an estimated full-time enrollment of 578 students, 25 fewer than the 2020-21 FTE total, and an initiative to broaden its career and technology education program.

Enrollment is a key budget item driving the amount of state funding local districts receive. School officials said this summer that budgeting for 578 FTE students is “a good conservative estimate.” Over-estimating student enrollment, on the other hand, can result in later budget pain.

The lower enrollment figure was decided upon in part due to a relatively large 2021 graduation class and as a hedge in case some families choose other education options for students after more than a year of employing remote and hybrid learning models in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CTE program received a separate boost earlier this year with a contribution of $2,500 from the Building Industry Association of Washington to purchase tools for a new residential construction class, one of a half-dozen career and technology related courses being offered by the school district this year.

“It’s important to the school board and the administration that we support the needs of all our students, those who intend to continue on for a university degree and those who will take a technical path,” La Conner Middle and High School Counselor Lori Buher told the Weekly News in July. “I’m glad La Conner, as a small school, is able to offer so many different options for its students.”