It’s at least a one-year reprieve for tiny Washington School. Four months after voting to close the 10-student, K-8, program, the Twin Ridges Elementary School District Board of Trustees has reversed course, after receiving updated financial information. District Superintendent, and school principal, James Berardi says although they’ve still been unable to pin down a precise fiscal impact, it isn’t nearly as large as originally estimated by the County Office of Education, after an independent contractor was hired to conduct an audit…

click to listen to James Berardi

Meanwhile, Berardi says reserve funding has been covering the district’s deficit, but that reserve is shrinking. He says they must still find a way to further reduce spending, with the deficit currently estimated at between 200 and 300-thousand dollars, in order to keep Washington School open beyond next year..

click to listen to James Berardi

The Board of Trustees has requested an update in October. Berardi says Washington school is probably like no other school in the state in that it’s funded by a local tax base, and not state per-pupil money.