Did Pasco and Richland school reforms avert a school budget crisis?
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- Pasco and Richland cut costs, used reserves and state advances to stabilize budgets
- Districts are rebuilding reserves but warn enrollment dips, federal cuts threaten recovery
- Both districts will ask voters to renew levies in Feb 2026 to sustain operations
Painful money maneuvers that two Tri-City school districts undertook last school year appear to be paying off.
Richland and Pasco were faced with tough choices to cut back on runaway spending by several millions dollars to avert a financial catastrophe.
Pasco paused large purchases and non-essential travel and meals, reassigned two dozen teachers while cutting other vacant positions, then shifted more than $8 million in reserves to fill a budget gap to end the fiscal year.
Richland last school year reorganized dozens of librarians and paraeducators, laid off nurses, reduced athletics transportation and class materials, cut vacant positions, then took out a $10 million capital fund loan and $13.5 million apportionment advance from the state to balance its ledgers.
District administrators are now cautiously optimistic those strategies helped them to weather the worst of the storm, though they warn they’re not fully out the woods.
That’s because student enrollments — the major revenue generator for public schools — continue to slip and as the federal government threatens other reductions.
As lawmakers in Olympia begin their short legislative session, Pasco Superintendent Michelle Whitney said they will continue to advocate for fully funding special education and transportation, and to increase funding for materials to keep up with inflation.
Dollars raised through local levies also will continue to be essential for funding schools, with both districts are asking voters on Feb. 10 to renew local school taxes for four more years.
Pasco is requesting nearly $154 million, while Richland — which receives less in federal dollars — says it needs $244 million.
Still, budget executives at the two school districts are getting major praise — even a round of applause from one school board — for its strategic response to budget woes.
Pasco budget changes
“Overall, we are in a much better financial situation than where we were a year ago, and it feels really good to be able to say that,” said Joey Castilleja, Pasco’s executive director of Fiscal Services.
As Pasco was budgeting last spring for this school year, the school board backed a plan to cut the district’s general fund reserves from 5% to 2.5%, to spend down money it would normally receive from the state and save. It also called to eventually eliminate between $12-15 million in vacant positions.
The district planned to keep those reserves at 2.5% over the next 3 to 5 years as part of a long-term plan to restore the district’s budget health. In reality, the district only had to cut down to about 3.4% this year.
If the district sticks to its budgeted and projected cash flows, Castilleja says it's likely they’ll end the school year with a $23 million general fund balance, and he might recommend restoring the reserves back to 5% for the 2026-27 budget.
“This board last year made the right call when it utilized our reserve account, and the reforms that have been implemented in the financial office is really making a big difference,” said school board member John Kennedy, applauding the district’s “conservative approach” to enrollment funding.
“It’s really remarkable how, through a lot of great planning, strong leadership and good policymaking, we have really turned the tide. And we just need to continue the approach that we’re doing right now, the responsible budgeting that we’re doing right now,” he continued.
Pasco — which serves about 18,800 students — started September 2024 with a general fund balance of about $24.3 million, and ended that school year in August 2025 with about $19.4 million.
Richland schools budget plan
Richland is projecting to end the school year with a $7.5 million fund balance, or 3% of total revenue, said Travis Belisle, executive director of finance.
The district serving 14,300 students could end the fiscal year with 11 days of cash on hand — a stark increase from the 2 days it had during the start of the 2024-25 school year.
School Board President Katrina Waters applauded their efforts. Just a couple of years ago, the district ended the year with just $1 million in the bank.
“I think that is just a huge gain for the district because it means we’re not only spending less than we bring in, but we’re putting money into savings for the rainy day,” she said. “I think you guys (finance department) are doing a great job with that, and hopefully it provides some comfort with the community for the levy that there’s good fiscal responsibility right now in the district going forward with how we spend taxpayer money.”
The plan is to rebuild Richland’s reserves back to 8% by 2030.
Richland started this school year with 30 fewer teaching positions and 128 fewer classified jobs, such as non-teaching employees and support staff, than it did in fall 2024.
Unlike last year, the district is unlikely to need an apportionment advance from the state. It's been dissuaded from using that budget strategy by Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, but school districts sometimes ask for more money upfront because the monthly revenues often fluctuate dramatically.
It’s likely Richland will make another small capital fund transfer to its general budget to ensure it remains on steady footing.
“With the loan and apportionment advance last year, if we exclude those from our balances, we would have had a negative $11 million balance with the county. And this year, we have about a $500,000 buffer,” Belisle said.
This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
