Budget & Finance

The WSSDA Board of Directors and staff ensure that the association’s financial resources are used responsibly and effectively in order to provide the leadership, advocacy and services necessary to support public school directors’ efforts to improve student learning.

Unlike most state agencies, WSSDA is not financed by direct appropriations from the state Legislature. In asking that WSSDA be established as a state agency, school directors requested an independent finance structure to give the association the freedom to be a strong advocate for education.*

The result is a finance structure in which each school board belongs to the association and pays annual dues according to a sliding scale based on the number of certificated personnel in its district. The law establishing this system includes a ceiling on total revenues the association may collect, and also provides for membership approval of dues increases.

The association’s annual budget is approved by WSSDA’s member-elected Board of Directors. The Board and its Finance Subcommittee monitor the budget throughout the year. WSSDA’s finances are audited every two years by the Office of the Washington State Auditor.

WSSDA takes this duty seriously to ensure dues are used in the most efficient and productive manner possible. We are also committed to full transparency in WSSDA’s finances and budgeting process. The links at right provide additional information regarding the association’s budget and finances. Please contact us at any time if you have additional questions.

*As former WSSDA Executive Director Elmer Stanley put it, school directors wanted their association to have the ability “to speak before the Legislature with complete honesty and candor … without having to worry about being cut off at the pockets if legislators didn’t like what they heard.” (A History of the Washington State School Directors’ Association, December 1974).