Hiring freeze, school sports cuts on the table in Marysville

MARYSVILLE — The state superintendent’s office placed the Marysville School District under “enhanced financial oversight” on Wednesday, the latest step in the state’s efforts to correct the yearslong financial turmoil in Marysville schools.

Enhanced financial oversight is the final step the state takes before the district is dissolved, staff at the state superintendent’s office said.

Chris Reykdal, the state superintendent of public instruction, notified the district in a letter addressed to Marysville Superintendent Zachary Robbins.

“I have lost confidence that the district has the decision-making tools or current personnel necessary to fix its financial situation on their own,” Reykdal wrote. “Despite being faced with significant financial challenges, the district has shown it is unwilling and unable to take appropriate steps or accept responsibility for the current situation.”

The district hadn’t provided comment to The Daily Herald by 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

Marysville is the only district in the state under enhanced financial oversight, according to Katy Payne, spokesperson for the state superintendent’s office.

In the letter, Reykdal outlined initial steps he planned to impose under enhanced financial monitoring for Marysville, including the following:

• Reykdal will appoint a special administrator to oversee and carry out the financial conditions imposed on the district.

• The state will impose a districtwide hiring freeze for non-certificated employees, effective immediately.

• No later than Sept. 10, the district must provide a list of all unrepresented employees under contract for the 2024–25 school year with their total budgeted salaries and benefits, including supplemental and deferred compensation.

• The district must submit a revised budget to the state by Oct. 15. The budget should fully address all the questions from the oversight committee.

These restrictions are the recommendation of the state-mandated financial oversight committee, convened in June when the state declared Marysville School District “financially insolvent.”

The oversight committee also recommended the district remove winter and spring sports, starting this school year. In his letter, Reykdal did not mention cutting sports.

Payne said in an email Thursday the state hopes “the actions taken under enhanced financial oversight will set the district on a path for long-term financial stability.”

In a memorandum to Reykdal, the state superintendent’s chief financial officer T.J. Kelly called this an “unprecedented step for K-12 finance in Washington State.”

In the same letter Monday, he outlined systemic issues that have hindered Marysville from producing a budget for the 2024-25 school year, including:

• high staff turnover in key fiscal and human resources positions;

• a lack of process, structure and tools needed to “effectively execute and routinely monitor a budget plan;” and

• rather than focusing on solving the budget deficit, “the district continues to expend energy on, and publicly reference, state funding formulas, inflation, and levy equalization formulas as systemic challenges preventing progress.”

The existing financial oversight committee was already an unprecedented escalation after the state put the district under “binding conditions” to solve its budget woes.

The state’s latest move comes on the heels of a scathing report from the state auditor’s office.

Earlier this month, state Auditor Pat McCarthy called the results of her office’s audit of the district “rare and alarming.”

The audit found no deficiencies in the district’s financial reporting or internal controls. However, auditors found the school district’s financial condition has “significantly declined,” and caused “substantial doubt about its ability to operate into the future.”

The school board was set to have a special meeting Thursday at 5 p.m.

Connor Zamora: 425-339-3037; connor.zamora@heraldnet.com; X: @cgzamora02.

Michael Henneke: 425-339-3431; michael.henneke@heraldnet.com; X: @ihenpecked.