Prescott's New Superintendent Helped Pull the District Back From Dissolution. Now He's Leading the Recovery.

Wed, 06 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT

When Jeff Foertsch was named superintendent of Prescott School District, he was already the person doing the job. The board's vote made permanent a role he had filled since the prior superintendent, Justin Bradford, resigned to become Executive Director of Special Education at Educational Service District 123. What it also marked was the formal close of a year that very nearly ended with the district's dissolution.

Foertsch has been a Prescott Tiger for 25 of his 27 years in education. He started at the small district north of Walla Walla as a secondary social studies teacher, served as a coach, athletic director, and dean of students, then spent three years as the K-12 building principal before stepping into the superintendency. He grew up in Prescott. "Prescott is kind of where I grew up and became who I am, and I want to help out the community," he told the Union Bulletin.

A district that almost wasn't

The story Foertsch is leading out of would not exist if a different person had been doing the job. In fall 2023, the district discovered that purchases had been made with funds already committed elsewhere. The district's business manager, working remotely from Seattle, had been providing inaccurate financial information since the start of the pandemic. Unpaid taxes and overdue bills surfaced. By the time the picture was clear, Prescott was carrying roughly $1 million in credit card and bank loan debt, which Foertsch later put closer to $1.8 million as more obligations came to light.

In January 2026, Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal initiated a petition to dissolve the district unless it could prove financial viability through the end of the 2026-27 school year. The deadline was April 1.

Between January 12 and March 25, 2026, the community moved. A supplemental levy passed in February. The district sold the Teachers Cottage. State Senator Perry Dozier helped secure a $600,000 emergency transfer from unused Marysville School District funds. Foertsch updated the cash flow statements that the state had been waiting for. On March 25, Reykdal rescinded the dissolution petition. Officials now say the district will be debt-free by the end of the 2026-27 school year.

What got cut, and what is coming back

Foertsch's account of the recovery is unusually specific for a public statement. In a written response to EdTribune, he described what came out of the budget and what is being put back.

"This past year we made cuts in the following areas: Para Support (4), Kitchen (1), Custodial (1), and all spring sports," he said. "We also received support from our teaching staff by many of them forgoing CBA money for their classrooms. We would have had many fewer field trips and student experiences outside of the school day, but our newly founded PTO fundraised and paid for many of these extra events."

The path back is built on rolled-over funds and a closing debt window. Foertsch noted that the district did not spend all of its allocated Learning Assistance Program or special education money this past year because the upfront cash was not available. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is allowing Prescott to roll those funds forward and use them in 2026-27. "So next year we will be adding more support staff back with this money," Foertsch said. "This will be sustainable after next year as we will have all debt payments finished up next year, so money we are still using for debt next year should be in turn available then for support staff in 27-28."

In terms of certificated staff, the district will lose two teachers to attrition and is not rehiring for 2026-27. The plan is for the deferred restorations, including support staff and spring athletics, to come back into the budget once the debt service ends.

The one-time legislative money is doing similarly specific work. "The one time money from the Legislature will be used to pay off our two biggest debts. The debts are money we owe to our own transportation department and our debt service," Foertsch said. "The rest of the money raised will help with other back debt to get it paid off."

The supplemental levy that passed in February stacks with the existing EP&O levy and adds roughly $200,000 per year for the next two years. "This again will help us sustain the items we will be adding back like support staff and Spring Athletics," Foertsch said. He added that the district is also hoping for an enrollment recovery, "but not betting on it or needing it to balance our budget moving forward."

The district has also been re-awarded the $5.6 million Small School District Modernization Grant it originally received from the state a year ago. The grant funds a full HVAC replacement.

The veteran-insider question

There is a familiar tension in any turnaround that puts a long-tenured insider in charge: institutional knowledge cuts both ways. The leader who knows the building, the families, and the staff is also the leader most likely to be loyal to the structures that produced the problem.

Asked directly about that, Foertsch leaned into the stability argument and away from any backward-looking accounting. "As a veteran employee of the district I believe I was able to help with overall stability, as I am known by staff and the community," he said. "Although I do have some knowledge looking backward, I believe the right approach was to look forward and focus on things we could do moving forward. It is easy to blame, but it would not have helped us move forward."

The relationship with ESD 123, where the prior superintendent Justin Bradford now sits, is functional rather than political. Prescott purchases its business services through ESD 123. "Justin Bradford's role at the ESD does not influence us one way or another," Foertsch said.

What the year produced, in Foertsch's read, is not really attributable to a single role. "I believe my experience here helped keep fears and emotions in check to some extent throughout the school year," he said, "but with this said, the success of this district this year and moving forward has to be attributed to our students, staff, school board, and community. If it was not for our local community support (PTO, Mother's Rising, and Alumni), and that of Senator Dozier, and other state agencies like OSPI and ESD 123, we may not have made it through this year."

Looking ahead

The district that nearly closed in April 2026 is now planning a school year in which support positions return, athletics resume, and the building's HVAC system gets replaced with grant funds. The two-year stack of supplemental levy revenue runs through 2027-28, by which point the debt service is supposed to be finished.

What Foertsch's tenure does not depend on is enrollment recovery. The district's own planning, he said, treats any future enrollment increase as upside rather than a budget requirement. That is a notable framing in a year when many small Washington districts are pinning their financial viability on the hope that families return.

For now, the person who steered the district through the survival year is the person leading the recovery year. The transition from interim to permanent is procedurally a board vote. Operationally, the lead voice has been the same one all along.

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Prescott School District - EdTribune WA - Washington Education Data

Prescott's New Superintendent Helped Pull the District Back From Dissolution. Now He's Leading the Recovery.

A district that almost wasn't

What got cut, and what is coming back

The veteran-insider question

Looking ahead