News & Information

Bellingham School District staff have been analyzing the impact of the state Legislature's budget on our school district since it was adopted by legislators. Bellingham schools will receive at least $3.7 million less from the state for next school year. If the district continued its current instructional and operational program for the 2009-10 school year and factored in the loss of more than $3.7 million in state revenue as a result of the new state budget, it would need more than $7 million that it currently does not have.

Therefore, the district will modify its current instructional and operational program based upon the priorities outlined in the School-Board Adopted Budget Savings Plan.

The district has identified that it needs $1 million to pay for instructional and operational programs previously funded by the state that will continue next school year. In addition, the district has estimated that another $1.2 million is needed to pay for obligations associated with Collective Bargaining Agreements. Another $2.6 million is needed to cover inflationary cost increases and general fund reserves needed to address likely future revenue reductions and unforeseen cost increases. Examples include additional I-728 class size revenue reductions, special education safety net revenue reductions, reduced investment earnings; increased costs related to general instructional and operational supplies, preventive maintenance, insurance, utilities, legal fees, audit fees, election fees, American Disabilities Act (ADA) services and more. This requires approximately $4.8 million of general purpose resources that will be partially offset by $1.3 million of additional revenue, thanks to the renewal of the district's general operations levy that voters previously approved.

Therefore, approximately $3.5 million is being acquired by implementing the Budget Savings Plan that the School Board adopted on March 17.  The district is now in the process of implementing most of the budget savings items in the Budget Savings Plan. Not all of the items in the plan will produce savings by the start of the new school year or will result in savings that can be used to support general purpose activities. Therefore, the implementation plan has been updated to reflect the most current estimated savings that can be used for next school year. Please click here for an update on implementation of the Board-adopted Budget Savings Plan.

"No one wants to have make these types programmatic changes, particularly when they affect students' educational opportunities and the livelihood of our employees," says Superintendent Ken Vedra. "We believe that every individual that works for the district provides value to our educational program."

Because of the loss of revenue for Bellingham schools and forecasted increases in expenses to staff schools and meet legal/contractual obligations, the district is temporarily delaying the reopening of Lowell Elementary School for one year. This was approved by the School Board on March 17. Lowell students will continue to attend Happy Valley Elementary School next school year or have the option of applying for a transfer to another district school through the district's transfer process.

By state law and contract, affected certificated staff in the district will receive official non-renewal of contract notifications by May 15. For classified staff, the notification deadlines regarding job status occur at a later date than the May 15 certificated deadline. The district is working with all classified labor groups to identify affected staff and clarify procedures and timelines to address potential reductions, changes in job assignment and other issues.

"The district recognizes the financial, personal and emotional impact this has on our wonderful staff. We are working hard to determine our funding, factoring in the many contingencies, in order to only issue notifications that are absolutely necessary," says Executive Director of Human Resources Nora Klewiada. "This is a very challenging situation based on a reduced two-year budget from the state."

Highlights from the adopted two-year state budget include:

• No state-funded Cost of Living Adjustment Adjustment (COLA) salary increases from the state for any employee.
• Elimination of one Learning Improvement Day (LID) for certificated staff. The district will need to confer with the BEA, the teachers' labor association, on this change and adjust the 2009-10 school year calendar accordingly; the date for the remaining LID has not yet been determined. An updated calendar will be shared with families as soon as decisions are made.
• No reduction in the district's allocation for K-4 certificated staffing. However, other state reductions, such as I-728, will impact K-12 staffing districtwide.
• A reduction in the district's I-728 class size funding from $458 per child to $131 per child for 2009-10 and $99 per child for 2010-11. These amounts could be further reduced pending the outcome of a special legislative session.  As a result, class size will increase slightly. The district is working on class size ratios districtwide as it prepares the staffing of our schools.
• At least a $400,000 reduction in state funds to operate school buses, Highly Capable, Learning Assistance Program (LAP), bilingual, math and science professional development, and other programs next school year.

District staff continue to closely monitor a few additional contingencies that affect how much funding the district will have to work with next year. One unknown is will the district be able to collect the full amount of local levy dollars received through property taxes previously approved by voters? This uncertainty is created by pending state legislative action pertaining to Senate Bill 6138 and House Bill 1776. Reduced levy collections resulting in lower revenue may also be a problem. Another unknown is will the state attempt to have all school districts share the impact of a $60 million statewide levy equalization loss? Currently, districts with higher property value such as Bellingham are not affected and districts with lower property value are significantly impacted. If this change occurs, it could result in an additional $300,000 reduction in revenue for our district. Finally, district staff continue to work closely with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) on the rules for using special education and Title I federal stimulus dollars. Presently, it appears that our district is one of 173 districts statewide that does not qualify under the current rules to use special education stimulus funds to "backfill" special education expenses currently paid for with local levy or general fund dollars. This does not diminish our responsibility to fully fund the cost of special education.

The district also understands from the state that additional revenue reductions are probable for the 2010-11 school year. As we work on this budget we are also keeping an eye to the future and beginning to plan accordingly.

As the district knows more, we will continue to share information and post it on our Budget Update Web page.