Margo Stewart tells her life story in numbers.
As the executive director of business services for the Sumner School District, she regularly puts together budgets, financial reports and the like. So when reflecting upon her 17-year career for the district before retiring this month, Stewart tells it in terms of increases and percentages.
When she began her career in the district in 1991, 5,483 students attended Sumner and Bonney Lake schools. In 2008-09, the district is anticipating 7,657 — a 40 percent increase.
Stewart includes the financial side of her 17 years as well. The budget in 1991 was more than $28 million; next year’s budget is estimated at $76 million.
“The school district has changed a lot,” she said.
Before Sumner, Stewart’s first job in school districts was for the Northshore School District in Bothell. Once she started working in schools she decided to come back home to East Pierce County.
A native to Puyallup and a 1964 Puyallup High School grad, Stewart said she was looking to work for a small school district near her hometown — so she chose Sumner.
“I remember when Puyallup looked exactly like Sumner,” she said. “I decided Sumner would be a good place to be. It’s very nice to be in an area that’s so familiar.”
Stewart attended Central Washington University, University of Washington, Southern Oregon College and Evergreen State College, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public administration.
Out of college, she worked as the director of Maude Kerns Art Center in Eugene, Ore., then became a trainer for Employment Security in Olympia. She then worked as a financial trainer and software designer for the state Department of Social and Health Services, then for the Washington Schools Information Processing Cooperative.
Her next step was the Northshore School District, where she held the same position she does now in Sumner. In her role as executive director of business services, Stewart keeps track of legislative issues that affect the school budget, and then implements those changes in yearly budgets.
She puts together budgets in the state-required format, but she also creates user-friendly budgets and easy-to-understand versions of other documents that are easier to understand, said district spokeswoman Ann Cook.
Since 1991, the district has opened two elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. It also opened a new district office with Stewart’s help.
Former superintendent Donald Eismann gave her the assignment to work with the architecture team because he thought she might like the project, Stewart said.
She helped meet the city’s design standards and balanced it all with her regular job, Cook said. And because the former school building was a well-known, century-old structure, Stewart rescued portions of it that were implemented into the current building.
In her years with the Sumner School District, Stewart also served as president of the Washington Association of Business Officials, a statewide network of finance directors.
Stewart has helped reduce property tax rates in the area by approximately 40 percent over the span of her career, she said. As part of her job, she examines financing for bonds with the ultimate goal of keeping the tax rate down to reduce the amount taxpayers must pay to support the district.
The property tax rate has gone down from $10 to $3.77 per $1,000 of assessed value from 1991 to 2008.
“She’s watching the taxpayer dollar every day,” Cook said.
Stewart also puts together the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, an in-depth financial analysis of the school district. It has won an international “excellence in financial reporting” award for the past six or seven years — and it’s one of seven school districts in the state that have won such an award.
Yearly audits of the district have been very good, Stewart said. The most recent audit, covering the 2006-07 fiscal year, was a perfect audit with no negative findings or “notes,” which can include suggestions to have documents reviewed.
“Margo’s had a really good year,” Cook said.
After she retires, Stewart has plenty to keep her occupied. She does jewelry work and hopes to teach beading to middle school students, she enjoys traveling abroad and to Eastern Washington and she plans to spend more time with her dog, Pilgrim, and her family. She will continue working on her 1973 Jeep Commando and 1975 Dodge Adventure and she would also like to keep gardening.
Stewart plans to stay involved with Sumner Rotary, the Sumner Library and volunteer work at the Tacoma Art Museum.
Though Stewart finds her personal accomplishments rewarding, she also finds joy in collaborating with a group of “exceptional” people in the district, she said. They’re passionate about educating children and they take their jobs very seriously.
“I’ll miss them,” she said. “The people who work here do very hard work. I’ll miss being part of that.”
Despite what she will miss in years to come, Stewart is happily anticipating the freedom and leisure that retirement brings.
“I feel very lucky that I had the opportunity that I had,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the next phase.”
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