Budget Badge #07 - Budget: Long-Term Sustainability-Budget Badge #7

Budget Badge #7 - PowerPoint

Pdf Summary

This document (WASBO Budget Badge #7) focuses on long-term budget sustainability for Washington school districts, emphasizing ending fund balance management and multi-year forecasting.<br /><br />Ending fund balance (also called equity/fund equity) is defined as the net position of governmental funds—total assets minus total liabilities, or the excess of revenues over expenditures. Estimating the current fiscal year ending fund balance helps districts make mid-year adjustments, manage budget extensions, and create sufficient time to balance the next year’s budget. Districts should monitor whether fund balance is decreasing, stable at board-policy targets, or increasing, and diagnose causes such as changes in enrollment, grants, levies, salary costs, or large contracts. They should determine whether those changes are one-time or ongoing, and use OSPI financial reporting tables to review statewide fund balance and enrollment trends.<br /><br />A core tool for long-term planning is the F-195F four-year budget forecast, required under state law/rules. The F-195F includes four-year enrollment projections; projected revenues, expenditures, and beginning/ending fund balances across all funds; fund balance classifications (restricted/committed/assigned); and transfers between funds. It is less detailed than the annual F-195 budget but is submitted as part of the annual budget package to the ESD by July 10. OSPI interprets the requirement such that only the initial year of the multi-year forecast must balance, and each year’s beginning fund balance must match the prior year’s ending fund balance (manual entry).<br /><br />Best practices include conservative enrollment estimates, using OSPI comparison tools, aligning staffing (FTE) to enrollment, projecting revenue shifts (including levy changes and expiring federal funds like ESSER), and applying realistic inflation/salary/MSOC assumptions. Districts should clearly communicate assumptions to the board. The document also highlights legislative impacts (IPD, staffing/prototypical funding, program funding, levy/LEA structures) and relevant WASBO/OSPI resources.

Keywords

WASBO Budget Badge #7

long-term budget sustainability

ending fund balance management

fund equity

multi-year forecasting

F-195F four-year budget forecast

OSPI financial reporting tables

enrollment projections

school district revenue and expenditure projections

levy and ESSER funding impacts