A Message from Superintendent Greg Baker

Dear staff, students, families and community,

I would like to share an update on our budget development for next school year. This is a difficult message to write and to send. I want to acknowledge up front that, although this message is about finance and budget, behind the numbers are people’s livelihoods and their very important contributions. These proposed budget cuts will deeply affect the lives of some of our staff and our students. We do not take this budget work lightly. We work hard to minimize the impact to those working directly with students every day, but as I said in my message in March, staff represent the largest portion of our district’s budget. We are not able to reduce our budget by such a significant amount without affecting staffing and our schools.

As we have shared throughout the school year, similar to districts all over the state and country, we are facing significant challenges due to the loss of federal COVID-era funds and increasing costs for resources and compensation. This means reductions in almost all areas of our district. It’s not easy to ask our community to put forth ideas of what to reduce or cut during a difficult budget cycle. I thank those of you who have reached out to share feedback and ask questions about school finance and budget planning and offered solutions. Throughout the year I have been attending school staff meetings, district department meetings and many PTA meetings to answer questions and listen to your input. I have also had many other conversations with students, staff and community members.

The plans I am sharing today are based on our best assumptions and estimates. Once you read through what we are proposing, feel free to send me or your principal/supervisor an email or fill out this form if you have questions or comments to share. The legislature will wrap up its session in the coming days, and we will work to finalize our budget over the coming months.

Below are many of the reductions and adjustments for 2023-24 totaling approximately $16 million. Please see our FAQ for more information.

• At the district level, we have been working all year on attrition opportunities. We have been reducing numerous positions at the District Office, including two executives, three directors and administrative assistants. We have also been reducing positions such as warehouse, electrician, maintenance, custodial, carpenter and facility rental. Budgets have been cut for supplies, materials and travel for staff professional development at all levels.
• At the elementary level, there will be some reduction in classroom teachers, resulting in increased class sizes for grades 4-5. We will also be reducing, but not eliminating, some specialist positions, including deans, literacy/math specialists, instructional coaches and library media specialists. We will see more staff shared across multiple schools. We won’t have elementary world language classes next year.
• At the secondary level (grades 6-12), much of the impact will be fewer classroom teachers, thus somewhat higher class sizes. There will also be some refinements in our middle school elective opportunities, bringing more consistency to programs across all the schools. We will continue to refine how we provide services and have some specialists teach courses, for example library media specialists, instructional coaches and athletics/activities coordinators.
• At all levels, there will be adjustments with staffing ratios, including administrative assistants, paraeducators and Special Education staff.

We have also identified opportunities for revenue and reallocation.

• Increase fees, continue planning for advertising and grant opportunities
• Adjust select items within Project Free Education including minimal charges for yearbooks and reducing field trips at all levels, including fifth grade Mountain School from two nights to one.
• Reallocate funds from our technology capital levy and bond to support expenses as appropriate and when possible
• Increase cost of full pay and adult school meals by $0.50
• Increase daily fees for childcare.

I encourage you to review this FAQ we have developed to address some questions we are hearing. Again, feel free to email me or fill out this form if you have any questions.

I wish I had better news to share. These reductions bring us back closer in many ways to staffing levels from my first few years as superintendent; it is so difficult to cut key positions we worked hard to add. And I know that we will persevere and get through this together. Thank you again for being engaged and helping us work through this challenging process.

Greg Baker

Reply to greg.baker@bellinghamschools.org