Declining enrollment trend persists

Columbia Gorge News

WHITE SALMON — White Salmon Valley School District’s (WSVSD) enrollment numbers are down about 38 students from the end of last year, continuing the trend of smaller incoming kindergarten classes compared to the previous year’s graduating seniors.

It’s a pattern seen across the state, Superintendent Rich Polkinghorn told board members at the Oct. 22 meeting.

“When you ask, ‘Why do we have less kids in White Salmon?’ there are a lot of local factors to that — certainly the cost of housing in this community is a big factor,” he said. “But the reality is the people who are of age to have children are just not having as many children.”

As noted in previous meetings, enrollment numbers drive state funding. With fewer students comes less funding, which in turn means a reduction in both staff and programs. The majority of WSVSD’s budget — between 80-85% — is staff.

“As our enrollment declines, we need to adjust our staffing levels accordingly,” Polkinghorn said.

Last year’s staff reductions were achieved through attrition at the elementary school. “But it’s going to create some complexity for us if those retirements are, say, at the high school when really, we need to reduce staff levels at the elementary school,” he said.

Financial impact

Despite the downward enrollment trend, Polkinghorn had positive budget news: The district’s ending fund balance ($1,776,064) was higher than its budgeted beginning fund ($1,750,000).

“The good news is our current year budget is starting on the right track,” he said.

It’s also higher than the board’s goal of maintaining an ending fund balance of 6% ($1,316,833).

“The budget status continues to be stable,” he said.

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See the story “Superintendent marks birthday with board meeting” online at columbiagorgenews.com.