A new school district financial health indicator has made its debut in SAO’s Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT)

Jul 1, 2026

A new indicator made just for schools

School district finances are tied to student enrollment in Washington state, making even modest shifts in student counts worth attention. Increases or decreases can have direct and sometimes immediate impacts on a district’s financial position. To help make that connection, we’ve added the Change in Enrollment financial health indicator to FIT, joining the other important indicators already present in the tool.

This indicator highlights the year-over-year percentage change in average enrollment at your school district, included for each of the past five years, giving you a quick and consistent way to identify trends that may be shaping a district’s financial outlook. While enrollment is not a financial figure like taxes or spending, it does shape how much funding a district has access to in the future. By viewing enrollment through a multi-year lens, you can move past single year fluctuations and better tell the impact of growth, decline or consistency your district is facing.

How to view the indicator

  1. Go to sao.wa.gov/FIT
  2. Use the Individual Government menu option and find the school district of your choice
  3. Scroll to the profile section labeled “Financial Health”
  4. Access the “Change in Enrollment” indicator within the section containing Other Indicators

Connect with us

If you want to find out more about the many ways to explore data in FIT, check out the new FIT 101 Feature Overview Series to learn how you can put FIT’s many features to work for you. If you have specific questions about FIT, please reach out to Center@sao.wa.gov or use the live chat feature on any FIT page.