RSD ACCOUNTABILITY

PRO-STUDENT, PRO-FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY, PRO-EDUCATIONAL OUTCOME

WHY IT MATTERS

Fiscal responsibility

Increased proficiency in fundamental education

Financial transparency

Disciplined budgets

More learning and extracurricular opportunities by way of a third high school

Accountability

The Richland School District sent emails to parents of all RSD students describing “Levy Rates” that was intentionally misleading. The RSD email stated, “For a home valued at $500,000, the estimated impact is about $255 per year, or $21 per month.” When in fact the actual total impact of these 2 renewal levies is $1500 per $500,000 assessed.

Per the Washington State Constitution (upheld by the McCleary decision), Washington state is required to pay for basic education, and levies may be relied upon for enrichment to basic education (3). Today, as we stand, the Richland School District is relying upon levies for much of its basic education rather than the state mandated general fund revenue. Washington State has made these mandates and limited EP&O levies to $2.50 so that school districts do not become dependent on levies for meeting basic educational needs.

Levies should specifically define the enrichment activities that our tax dollars are paying for and hold the school district accountable for how they use those funds. 13-16% of RSD salaries are paid by local levies. The average salary for RSD administrators is $166,154, and teachers is $104,225(1). RSD administrator and teacher salaries are among the highest in the United States.

Rather than continue to increase wages at a rate well above a sustainable level. Levy funds should be invested in our communities’ children wisely. Every student should have access to career and college path learning. There are many RSD high schoolers that cannot get into the career or college prep classes that they are requesting because of a lack of class capacity. More of a focus should be made on math and reading for all grades, as these are the foundational subjects from which all other school subjects’ success or failure will be derived from. State SBA testing data shows that 58.6% of RSD third grade students are meeting the standard for math proficiency. Why then do only 39% of RSD students meet the standard for math proficiency by 8th and 10th grade? This alarming decline in math proficiency needs to be met with more focus on mathematics with our enrichment focused levy dollars.

What RSD is Asking For

The Richland School District is asking for the maximum EP&O levy amount allowed by the state ($2.50) and has also requested an additional $0.50 technology levy to add to their slush fund. This 4-year levy will start at 32% higher ($43.8 million vs $33 million)(6) than the outgoing levy that it replaces. The following 3-year AV growth rate, estimated by RSD’s levy presentation shows a 10% year-over-year increase for the next 3 years. As your property values go up, the RSD levy can increase proportionally to this yearly 10% increase.

Per the Richland School District’s published memorandum (7) describing the financial framework for their upcoming budget, they claim that 80-85% of the district’s expenditure is employee wages and benefits and that staffing costs growth will match the revenue growth. Revenue growth from the proposed replacement levy is $10.8 million(6), which represents a 4.5% increase in revenue growth and opens the door to potentially unsustainable salary increases. When current RSD wages are adjusted for cost-of-living (2) administrators and teachers already rank in the top national salary percentiles, even ahead of Seattle and Los Angeles school districts.

RSD’s 2 high schools are currently overcrowded by 900 students(4), and quality of education will continue to deteriorate until a new comprehensive high school is built. Richland voters did not pass the 2024 RSD bond for $0.97 per $1,000 which would have built a new 3rd high school, upgraded Hanford High, and expanded Richland High. The failed 3rd high school bond cost was less than one third of the amount that these proposed levies are asking for while not solving the current overcrowding problems at the high schools.

RSD is politically leveraging athletics and extra-curriculars so that they can compel voters to approve this omnibus levy. The district has threatened that if this levy does not pass, athletic programs will be eliminated. Rather than threatening to eliminate programs, RSD could have followed the script of Walla Walla and proposed an athletic specific levy. Walla Walla School District was proactive in creating a separate athletic levy so that voters could make the decision where their tax dollars went. A separate athletics levy of $0.38 per $1,000 assessed value passed and ultimately put more funds directly into school athletics and expanded extracurriculars available to students (5). This is a great example of what is possible.

Recent RSD spending led to the school district receiving a D+ financial health rating by OSPI in 2024. Richland School District leaders have published their new “disciplined” budgeting framework to assure taxpayers that over the next 5 years, RSD will improve from a D+ rating to an A-. Approving the school district’s replacement levy would supply $10.8 million more and just bail them out of their prior lack of accountability.

Addressing the Issue

Approving this levy would allow the Richland School District to continue in their reckless spending with little accountability. The problem with approving this omnibus levy is that there is lack of transparency as to where the money is spent. As Richland residents have done in the past, when we have passed a slush fund levy, the school district is not held accountable for what they use those levy dollars for.

Instead of funding a $3.00 per $1,000 total levy rate, RSD can ask for a $1.70 per $1,000 EP&O levy and $1.00 per $1,000 bond so that they can build a new high school. This hypothetical proposal would be a 10% reduction from the RSD’s proposed levy that would be collected from property taxes.

A new high school would ease the overcrowding at Hanford and Richland High School and give the school district 50% more athletic and academic opportunities for our students.

RSD should have their students’ outcome as their number one priority rather than ensuring that they are the highest salaried school district in the Tri-Cities. The correlation between higher salary and better student outcome has fallen flat and the school district needs to have better methods for keeping the great teachers and ushering the mediocre out the door. If we are paying for excellence in teachers and administrators, then our students should receive the full benefit of that spending.

We compel the school district to request a more reasonable levy and potential 3rd high school bond that would cost less than the current total levy proposal while providing significant benefit to this community’s students rather than just increasing the already high salaries of many RSD employees.

RSD Past Financial Timeline Overview

2019-2020: RSD generated a surplus of $2 million. RSD closed school and effectively ended the school year 10 weeks early.

2020-2021: Covid mandates started the RSD school year off with all students learning online from home. RSD ran a $3 million deficit even though they received an extra $7.5 million from federal COVID relief funds. Richland and Hanford High School students were allowed to come back for full time in person education April 19 of 2021.

2021-2022: All education had shifted back to in person learning. RSD generated a surplus of $1 million primarily due to $10 million of federal COVID relief funds

2022-2023: RSD only received an extra $3.6 million in federal COVID relief funds. The school district ran a deficit of $6 million due to overspending.

2023-2024: RSDs newly passed EP&O levy and technology levy were approved by voters right before the massive increase in county property assessments occurred. This generated an additional $3.8 million compared to the prior year. RSD received no extra COVID relief funds. Even with the increase in property taxes, RSD still ran a deficit of $1.5 million. RSD leveraged your property taxes as collateral to borrow $10 million from its existing bond loan, then passing the interest payment down to taxpayers. This effectively means that taxpayers are paying the interest twice for an already approved bond (8).