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NEWPORT — The Newport School District Board passed a $22.79 million budget for the 2026–2027 school year, an increase of $468,112 from 2025–2026, at their Tuesday, July 14 meeting.
At the same time, the board passed a $145,000 budget extension for 2025–2026. This was to accept a $145,000 Career Preparation and Launch grant from the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, which will fund a driving simulator for use by the Career and Technical Education program.
“It’s a balanced budget,” acting business manager Belynda Best said at the meeting.
Salaries and benefits are 72% of the 2026–2027 general fund spending budget, a 1% increase from 2024– 2025. They make up most of the proposed spending at $16.5 million budgeted, followed by $2.86 million in contracted services and $1.3 million in supplies. The budget capacity remains $2 million.
“Seems like a lot, but learning from Deborah, [72% is] not a horrible percentage to be,” Best said.
Like last year, the district is budgeting for more full-time equivalent staffing than the state is expected to reimburse, including 3 FTEs of counselors, 3.4 of certified administrative staff, 15.16 of classified staff, 2 in technology, 2 in facilities, maintenance, grounds and labor, 0.9 in district administration and 3.1 in district classified staff. Of those, the district expects the state to reimburse 21.62 FTEs.
In contrast, the district is budgeting for 37.3 FTEs of certified instructional staff and 8.05 in the CTE program, which are 1.6 and 0.97 FTEs less than expected from the state.
The levy funds another 17.47 FTEs.
“The classified staff, that is for custodians, secretaries and a portion of the nurse,” Best said. “And then the levy … covers counselors, STEAM teacher, school nurse, KUBS staff, Dean of Students.”
Average salaries from 2026–2027 are $80,164 for certified staff, $118,994 for administrative staff and $57,507 for classified staff. They are projected to increase by 2028–2029 to $84,387, $125,262 and $60,536. To make them competitive, salaries are based on average salaries in the state, Best said.
The state funds the district based on enrollment, with an average of 21 students funding one teacher, Best said. However, the district expects enrollment counts to continue decreasing over the next four years.
Next school year’s budget is based me,” Hulet said. “And it’s under 10 years old, so it’s probably the newest car I’ve ever owned in my life.”
Previously, Hulet drove a Subaru Legacy and a Honda CR-V, the former being from 1996. Neither car could fit all eight members of her household, so they ended up using both at times, resulting in gas and other expenses Hulet struggled to afford on a lower income. Moreover, the cars required repairs as frequently as every month.
“There was always something going on,” Hulet said. “And I need to fix this just so we can keep being able to get to appointments, and I do a lot of nonprofit work.”
Hulet and her family commute to Spokane for medical care, so she was often forced to cancel or reschedule her appointments, posing her an additional medical challenge. Already, Hulet has undergone several surgeries, and she continues to experience back problems that limit her physical activity.
“I don’t want to have to keep canceling appointments,” Hulet said.
After a long time of volunteering for the Cusick Food Bank, Hulet recently transitioned to running the Rapid Food Rescue Program for non-profit organization Innovate Ione.
Her work for Rapid Food Rescue involves collecting food from businesses, restaurants and convenience stores otherwise set to be thrown away, freezing it, then distributing it to homebound seniors in the community. She plans to expand their client base to include any disabled or low-income residents who cannot visit traditional food banks.
“I’m just making sure none of my neighbors go hungry,” Hulet said. She is also organizing the Holiday Smiles Project, which aims to gift stockings to Pend Oreille County children during the holiday season. Before she won the giveaway, Hulet was not always available to deliver food to clients, as neither of her cars were reliable vehicles. Despite that, she said volunteers have distributed upwards of 1,500 pounds of food total since late May or early June.
“Even though she’s sometimes just barely getting by, she’s still out helping everybody else,” Burroughs said.
Burroughs believed Hulet deserved better, writing two pages during the nomination process about her family, needs and contributions to the community.
“It was paid to her, and now she’s paying it forward to others as well,” Burroughs said. “She was already doing that, but this enables her to do it more.”
Now that the van is saving Hulet on expenses, she can afford to pay for other things; on an upcoming trip to Portland, she is taking her grandchildren to the zoo, an activity she said was too expensive beforehand.
Furthermore, the van is not only capable of seating Hulet’s entire household, but of storing coolers and bags for Rapid Food Rescue as well as grain and feed for Hulet’s at-home farm.
Having won the giveaway, Hulet gave her daughter the Subaru Legacy and kept the Honda CR-V as a backup vehicle.
“It’s still kinda overwhelming that I was a recipient of that,” Hulet said.
“And something in my story of what I do or what I need resonated with them, and they showed me.”
