School board directors answer questions on budget planning, February 2025

School board directors Jenn Mason and Scott Ritchey took time to share insights into budget planning in Bellingham Public Schools and upcoming funding challenges.

What are some steps that our school board has taken related to the financial challenges facing our school district? 

MASON: First, it’s important that we are informed about what’s been going on locally, at the state and federally. We also have been doing our own advocacy as board members; we approved a resolution, and we wrote letters to our legislators. We felt it was important to use our role as school board members to advocate for funding for our district and for districts across the state. 

RITCHEY: I have learned a lot in my first year about the importance of advocacy. I attended the legislative advocacy conference recently for school directors and administrators. The focus was to continue to align around the “big three” priorities for school funding in this legislative session. It was incredibly informative and helpful. When districts talk with a unified message, it can be effective.  

What do you wish people across our community better understood about budget planning?  

RITCHEY: I find it interesting that the language in our state constitution regarding K-12 public education is unequivocal. It is the duty of the state to provide ample funding. But we can see district by district across the state experiencing more financial duress than we have seen in a very long time. I do not think most people really understand school funding and or the state’s obligation. Funding for public education has been invisible to most people, so they do not understand the magnitude of the challenge that we are under right now. 

MASON:There is a tendency to think about the school budget like a household budget: all the money comes into one account and then we can decide how we want that money to be spent. The fact is, is that most of the money that comes into the district has rules attached to it, dictating what we can and cannot spend the money on. I think it is hard to for people to understand why we don’t fund one thing but then we spend money on this thing over here. I am betting most do not know how complicated it all is. 

One of the biggest challenges in school finance is being able to accurately plan for the future. Most of our funding is from the state and every year we wait to find out what funding they are giving to K-12 education. We try to think of a relatable comparison. It is like trying to develop a household budget without knowing your salary.  

MASON: Exactly. The district has great people working on our budget forecasts and they do an exceptional job with the information that they have at any given time. But the fact is, we don’t know how many students are going to be enrolled in our schools until after school starts. We don’t know what the state is going to do with funding until they approve it. School districts are expected to work in imperfect conditions. We’re basically making our best, educated guesses, then you throw in something like COVID or even inflation in and that can wreak havoc.  

RITCHEY: Our district is setting the bar in terms of quality budget planning in our state. But it’s hard when people assume we didn’t plan well and that’s why we have challenges. In reality, there are so many unknowns. And the state’s system is actually designed this way! We are lucky our district manages our resources so well and works so hard and effectively. Superintendent Greg Baker and his team are doing as much preparation and analysis as possible, and I think that we’re taking the right steps in a very difficult time.  

Anything else to add related to budget planning or the legislature?  

MASON: I know we have some great legislators in our district who really care about public education, and I also think that public education in our state has a long history of being underfunded and insufficient. We’re basically hoping for something better than the worst case scenario for next year’s budget. This year, the ongoing, historical underfunding is coming to a head.   

RITCHEY: Right! Imagine being a legislator right now. There are so many worthy and competing needs in our state. But if we’re adequately and effectively funding education, overall the state will be better positioned to solve challenging problems into the future. Today’s kids are gaining the skills and ability to think creatively and critically. Funding schools is part of solving a lot of other problems over the long term.  

MASON: Even as we worry about staff, families and students being impacted by the budget, we still believe we can deliver on The Bellingham Promise. All children should be loved. We will continue to care about our students and do everything we can. We will continue to advocate for funding because we want to provide the best education possible by our community standards, but we can also provide a lot just by focusing on the Promise and showing up for kids every single day.