MATTAWA — The Wahluke School District will operate with a general fund of about $52.6 million for the 2026-27 school year. The general fund pays for most district operations, including staff salaries and supplies.   

The school budget process in Washington relies on projected student enrollment as the baseline. Wahluke superintendent Andy Harlow said WSD officials are projecting the equivalent of about 2,030 students. That’s part of a continuing downward trend, and Harlow said that’s reflected in the budget. 

“We made, I want to say, 10 or 12 additional staffing cuts as we continue to deal with (student) losses,” Harlow said. “Over the last four years, we’ve lost over 600 kids.” 

There are signs that student enrollment is stabilizing, he said, but district officials don’t know yet if that will continue.  

The drop in student enrollment reflects, in part, bumpy markets for a lot of agricultural products, tree fruit among them. The Mattawa area is home to substantial orchard acreage. 

“If anyone takes a drive through the Mattawa Slope, they can recognize huge numbers of orchards have been ripped out," Harlow said, "and, in some cases, they're just being left empty. In many cases, they're replacing them with row crops." 

The labor demands of row crop farming are much lower. Harlow said the uncertain economy means WSD has to take that into account.  

“Agriculture right now is taking a beating, so we’re going to have to hold tight here and see how it goes,” Harlow said.  

District staff and district patrons have continued to show support during the uncertain times, he said. 

“Through all of these challenges, and they've been pretty crappy, we continue to be blessed with tremendous staff support,” Harlow said. “It’s just a great group of people to come to work with every day. And our community supporting levies (with) the amount of taxes that we face in Washington State right now. It's been great support from so many people through really hard times. It’s probably one of the greatest things about living in this community is the way we support each other.” 

The district’s capital projects budget is about $8.9 million, which reflects some ongoing projects and loan repayments. The debt service fund, which pays off bonds issued for previous projects, is budgeted at $749,000. District officials plan to buy a new school bus, reflected in the transportation vehicle fund budget of $380,000. The Associated Student Body fund is budgeted at $620,798. 

Wahluke district voters approved a capital levy in 2025, and the capital budget includes projects that were part of that levy.  

The district is using some of it to pay back loans taken out to replace the heating-cooling system at Mattawa Elementary. Some capital budget money is allocated to replace aging security systems in district schools. That’s supplemented with a $350,000 grant that’s being used to add 40 security cameras and upgrade communications.  

The capital budget also includes the first phase of roof replacement at Wahluke Junior High, Harlow said. Roof replacement also is scheduled for Saddle Mountain Elementary; that too will be phased project.  

It’s important, he said, to finish the repayments and projects associated with the levy that was approved by voters.  

“We really want to make sure all our jobs get done,” Harlow said.