The Hockinson School District faces a $1.2 million budget deficit due to a projected dip in student enrollment, a key driver of state funding for public schools.
The Hockinson School District Board of Directors unanimously approved a $36.39 million general fund budget for the 2025-26 school year during a regular meeting on Monday, July 28. State funding, which makes up 76% of the district’s budget, will decline due to an anticipated decline in enrollment.
“We generate a majority of our revenue from enrollment,” Aaron Villanueva, the district’s director of business services, explained during the presentation to the board. “So we looked at enrollment to budget conservatively rather than to overassume how much (full-time equivalents) we’re gonna have for next year.”
Villanueva said the district adopted a cautious approach, expecting actual enrollment to exceed projections, which could generate more funding later on, but not counting on it for the budget’s approval.
To close the budget shortfall, the district will not fill open positions for certificated teachers and will reduce classified staff hours. According to the district’s website, district office employees will face salary freezes and reduced schedules. Superintendent Steve Marshall will take a pay freeze during the 2025-26 school year.
“There was a lot of communication and just looking at options that we have to put the 25-26 budget together,” Villanueva said. “We were able to get it balanced for next year.”
The district reduced staffing by 3.387 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions. This included a 2.2 FTE reduction among certificated staff, a 1.596 FTE reduction in classified staff, and furloughs across multiple employee groups. No staff positions were eliminated.
The board also approved an update to the district’s 2025-2031 Capital Facilities Plan, which outlines long-term construction needs. A key goal, building a second elementary school, remains unresolved following the failure of an $87.75 million bond measure in February. The measure would have funded the new school and facility renovations.
Hockinson School Superintendent Steve Marshall said the need for a second elementary school has only grown more urgent. Despite an overall anticipated drop in school district enrollment, elementary school enrollment is expected to rise far beyond facility capacity.
“Because we’re sure that … elementary school [enrollment] will be somewhere around 930 students … that is not sustainable,” he said.
Enrollment at Hockinson Heights Elementary, which has a capacity for 736 students, reached a Fall 2024 enrollment of 852 students last fall and is projected to receive 930 this school year. The building relied on 26 portable classrooms last year.
“With that measure failing, we can look at some other options, such as fifth grade moving to our middle school on a temporary basis,” Marshall said.
The district will face further financial questions in the year ahead. The district’s current four-year educational programs and operations levy expires in 2026 and must be renewed by voters to continue. That levy supports one in seven Hockinson School District staff members, extracurricular activities, and maintenance, according to the district’s website.
Readers can learn more at hocksd.org/o/hsd/page/budget.
