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A Message from Superintendent Greg Baker

Dear students, staff, families and community,

It has been nearly two weeks since the state legislature finished its session. You may remember that our district, along with hundreds of others, had been advocating for increased K-12 funding since last summer.  As we dig through the numbers and laws to determine the decisions, it’s clear that the state’s funding for K-12 education continues to be inadequate.

The legislature provided some funding in two of the five areas requested (Special Education and materials, supplies and operating costs or “MSOCS”) and even then, they fell short.

I encourage you to read a recent Op-Ed in the Seattle Times penned by Joel Aune of WASA: Lawmakers, you did not make a ‘significant investment’ in WA schools | The Seattle Times. Instead, they put part of their responsibility to fund education back on local districts and adjusted the levy cap. This means districts, including ours, can go back out to voters to consider approving a supplemental levy to backfill what the state did not fully fund.

In the meantime, I am so very thankful to our community. Many of you offered feedback on our budget planning ideas for the 2025-26 school year. Others, including our labor leaders and employees, have been engaged in the tough but necessary work to figure out where and how to reduce our budget. We truly could not have done this work without you. We also share appreciation for our local elected officials who have advocated on behalf of public schools.

Budget planning is complex and challenging, especially when decisions we make will affect our schools, students, families and the livelihoods of our staff.

What we heard

Here are some themes we heard in your feedback regarding the budget:

• Strong support for adjusting the calendar to start the school year Sept. 2 (after Labor Day) and to use as state waiver to reduce the school year by one day to reduce costs.
• Frustration with the state and how PreK-12 schools are underfunded, as well as concerns about funding from our federal government. Our community understands that budget challenges aren’t just affecting 91�Թ��� but districts across the state.
• Requests to avoid increasing class sizes.
• Requests to first look to reduce staff farthest from the classroom, including administrators and/or staff at the District Office.
• Appreciation for all we are doing to try to figure out our budget and plan for the future, including asking for feedback and sharing what we know.
• Interest in families contributing to traffic safety (driver’s education) and high school athletics with caution: please don’t do anything that would limit student opportunity.

Your questions answered

There were two common questions that we’d like to address:

Why are we facing a $15 million shortfall?

Inflation is the most significant factor. According to OSPI, if the state’s funding had kept pace with inflation, that would equal $11 million for our district, which would have substantially helped. The state is not fully funding many aspects of public education, including Special Education, materials/supplies, utilities, insurance and transportation. See our budget webpage, which includes frequently asked questions and other resources.

Can we use bond money slated for construction to help fix the budget?

We use the adage “bonds are for building.” Our new/rebuilt schools (Sehome, Sunnyland, Parkview and Alderwood), fields (Squalicum, 91�Թ��� and Sehome) and District Office were all built thanks to supported bonds from 2013, 2018 and 2022. We cannot use bond dollars to pay teacher salaries or other teaching and learning programs. Bond dollars are restricted to construction and remodeling projects.

To this end, we are planning for a possible special levy in November to fund maintenance projects across our district and in our schools (think roofs, boilers, lighting, windows, etc.). The purpose of this levy would be two-fold: first, to help preserve our general fund for classroom-related expenses (teachers, curriculum, etc.), and second, to take care of and protect our community’s investments: our schools and buildings. Watch for more information soon.

What changes will we see next year?

Your feedback has helped influence our budget plans. Below is a summary of planned budget reductions. For more information, see this webpage.

• Reduce staff through attrition and restructuring with a focus on staff farthest from the classroom.
• Reduce administrators/District Office support.
• Reduce work and school days (depending on position or contract, staff will take furlough days, which are unpaid nonwork days).
• Freeze compensation at 2024-25 rates for all administrators.
• Increase class size slightly for grades 4-12.
• Ask families to offset costs for driver’s ed and high school sports.
• Leverage support of the 91�Թ��� Public Schools Foundation.

Again, thank you for all your thoughtful ideas and comments.

In addition to our budget survey, I attended 25 different staff meetings in our schools and facilities across our district this spring to talk through budget questions, ideas and concerns. I also attended various community meetings and panels and have appreciated these opportunities to share our perspectives and plans and hear your feedback. We have incorporated many voices throughout this process, which I believe had led to better budget planning for 2025-26.

Thanks again,

Greg Baker