School districts managed their money then Gregoire grabbed it

School districts have to maintain a reserve in their budgets for a "rainy day" and to preserve their bond rating when they borrow. They have to fight to maintain this reserve. There have even been strikes when school employee unions tried to get the reserve money. So? Well, they say "no good deed goes unpunished." Christine Gregoire took it. She was desperately looking for money. So Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn helped her to force the school districts to eat into their reserve. In her one-day special session of the legislature on December 11, 2010, one of the few things they passed was a reduction in school funding that was retroactive to 1/1/2010 - over eleven (11) months back. Five months of the funding had already been spent spent in the 2009-10 school year. The rest was for the level committed to in the school year started in September. Three months of that were already spent, but all of it committed. How do you manage your budget when money is taken away eleven months after you spent it? You are forced to use up your hard-gained reserve. Source: Bob Hughes, member of State Board of Education Also State Line