Frequently Asked Questions - Facilities Planning Task Force 2026

Approving an out-of-district transfer request can be nuanced.

Transfer requests are reviewed each year and they are not guaranteed. We review requests based on a number of factors including the capacity of a specific grade at the school of choice. With class sizes getting larger and budgets getting tighter, we are mindful not to overburden a specific grade if numbers are already high and we don’t have the ability to add another classroom/ teacher.

We should also clarify that an out-of-district transfer student does bring in additional revenue from the state, but it doesn’t bring in the local levy contribution. We have an obligation to serve students in our district’s attendance area, and we honor transfers if/when we can.

You can read more about our transfer process here.

Our school boundaries (or attendance areas) were adjusted when Larrabee closed, and most of those students went on to attend Happy Valley, Lowell and Fairhaven Middle School.  

Others attended other public schools in our district or other districts in Whatcom County and/or some moved.  

One Larrabee student unenrolled to attend private school.  See chart below.  

We have reduced the number of administrators in our schools and across our district over the last few years in response to budget challenges and to reduce expenditure.

• In spring 2025, we shared a list of positions we were reducing for the 2025-26 school year, including a number of admin roles. You can see this list of cuts made in administration and the District Office in 2025-26.
• There is misinformation being shared that we have increased the number of admin, and that is untrue. We have found that 13 positions are being double counted in the 2025-26 data, mispresenting the actual number of administrators. The OSPI report cards do not reflect full time equivalent or FTE. Some administrators’ contracts are split, and OSPI is counting them twice.

When you look at the data, it’s clear that we are below capacity at most of our schools and with enrollment expected to continue to decline, we believe it’s fiscally responsible to consider reducing the number of elementary schools in our district.

Given budget constraints and state funding cuts, we are looking for ways to ensure our students receive a well-rounded education while keeping a keen eye on efficiency of staffing. Please see the question above re: “too low” enrollment.

We expect to save about $1 million annually if we repurpose a school. Most of those savings are in salaries of principal, assistant principal/dean, office staff, food services staff, custodial and other site-based staff. Teaching staff would likely relocate to other schools to preserve class size and teacher/student ratios. There could be revenue opportunities if we rent or lease sites.

As part of our budget process, we generate annual projection of enrollment based on birth rates and the age cohorts already present in our schools as they progress through elementary, middle and high school. Additionally, there are age progression ratios that provide typical year-to-year projections. We then adjust as needed based on actual enrollment that year and the children we serve in our schools.

When doing more long-range capital projects and facilities planning work, we typically hire a professional demographer. Their reports inform our task forces as they develop recommendations for bonds and/or attendance area revisions and our district leadership as they make decisions. Demography reports include additional datasets such as community development rates and provide more long-range projections based on mathematical modeling.

Over the years, BPS has contracted with Educational Data Solutions and FLO Analytics. Both are reputable firms that use similar methodologies for producing demography reports for school districts.

We focus on best serving students who reside within our attendance area or district boundaries. We also work to adjust our programs and offerings to accommodate families’ needs and interests. For example, the Family Partnership Program serves homeschool families and students and Promise K provides transitional kindergarten for four-year-olds.

Although the majority of public school students attend school in the district where they live, for many decades in Washington state, families may apply for an out-of-district transfer. See policy 3141. We currently have hundreds of out-of-district students enrolled in Bellingham Public Schools. We do our best to accommodate transfer requests, but we wouldn’t actively recruit students from other public school districts. We trust families as the first and best teachers of their children, and we work to accommodate all families’ choices for where they would like their children to be educated.

Bellingham Public Schools has experienced budget challenges due to declining state funding for the past three years.

Adjustments over the years have included furlough days for staff and administrators, salary freezes, staff and administrator reductions, reduction of school year by one day, renegotiated compensation with labor groups, maximized revenue sources (fees & advertising), passed a supplemental levy, adjusted the high school schedule, increasing class size and reduction of hours for classified staff. We created a webpage to track budget cuts ahead of the 2025-26 school year.

For additional information, you can see our budget webpage and past messaging.

• Budget webpage
• Messaging re: budget updates to our community:
  • Sent Nov. 14, 2025: “Budget challenges and studying the high school schedule”
  • Sent Jan. 27, 2026: “Budget planning for 2026-27 school year”
  • Sent Oct. 23, 2024 “Looking ahead: potential budget challenges for the 2025-26 school year; watch video” (Note that this was sent during the fall of 2024-25, but is highlighting needs projected to affect 2025-26).
  • Sent May 9, 2025 “Update on budget planning for 2025-26; thanks for your feedback”
  • Sent May 2, 2024 “Budget update for May 2024”
  • Sent April 26, 2023 “Update, why are we facing budget reductions”

We also archive all our historic budget communications and documents on the budget webpage at the bottom by school year.

Birth rates across the country, including in Washington state and Bellingham, are declining, and we know from historic data that the number of births in Bellingham drives enrollment.

For at least 30 years, about 80% of the number of babies born in Bellingham enroll in Bellingham Public Schools. This rate is consistent over the years (with the exception of the pandemic in 2020 when BPS saw a dip in enrollment, like districts across the state and country).

Birth rate is a clear predictor of BPS enrollment in school five years later, despite fluctuations of students moving in or out of our area or those opting for other options like private school or homeschool.

Projections for the next 5-10 years show a steady decline in elementary enrollment. Between 2018 and 2028, we are expecting to see a decline in 1,000 students across our elementary schools.

Projections and estimates for future enrollment are based on city development (permitting and construction plans in the city limits), housing numbers, the number of births in Bellingham based on census data and the Department of Health, and enrollment numbers in our district.

Bellingham Public Schools regularly works with demographers to analyze birth, development, and enrollment data to help provide projections on enrollment. In addition, we have contracted FLO Analytics for more detailed projections and estimates. FLO is a company based in Oregon and they work with districts across the country, including many in Washington state and the Pacific Northwest.

The task force has been charged with developing a recommendation for the district that would account for fluctuations. For example, if the task force recommends repurposing a school site, the district would not be inclined to sell the building or land for any of our current elementary schools in case enrollment increases.  The district could rent, lease or repurpose the building. This gives the district flexibility for any potential growth in the future should other factors affect the accuracy of the projections.

Demographers recommend data should be checked at least annually, and that they feel more confident about their estimates for the next one to five years (2026-27 to 2031-2032) because those numbers are based on verified births in Bellingham.

 The facilities planning task force is working on scenarios that could possibly reduce the number of elementary schools and will also recommend next steps for the district to consider.

The task force will likely complete its work in spring 2026, resulting in a recommendation to the superintendent. Updated March 31, 2026: Superintendent Baker has asked the task force to not recommend any fall 2026 elementary school closures.

The 2022 bond included funds to build a 15^th elementary school in the King Mountain neighborhood as well as funds to start the design/ planning process for Carl Cozier, Roosevelt and Columbia elementary schools. Those three schools are some of the oldest in the district and were identified to be rebuilt. The 2022 bond also included funds for other projects, including completion of Sunnyland, the District Office, classrooms and a turf field at Kulshan, and a new facility for Community Transitions. See details on the bond.

In 2024, the district announced that it was pausing plans to build a 15^th elementary school and that it would be focusing on relocating and rebuilding Carl Cozier. The Carl Cozier project requires collaboration with the city, including buying/selling land within the Civic complex.

In March 2026, the district announced to the Carl Cozier community that given the declining birth rates and enrollment, we are pausing conversations with the city while the task force digs into its work.

Plans for the bond funds originally slated for elementary 15 and then for Carl Cozier will be announced once we have completed the facilities planning process.

Changing boundaries for a school district is a complex process and an unlikely course of action.

Changes to school district boundaries happen via the transfer of territory by petition, consolidation of districts or dissolution/annexation of district(s). The change would need to be approved by a vote of citizens of both affected school districts. You can see more information at the state’s website.

We generally use an elementary school with about 350 students as our standard for a couple of key reasons. Our newest elementary schools have been built to a standard that can accommodate about 400 students—this is about 24-25 classrooms, which allows for three sections of each grade level plus ample space for preschool, spaces for individual or small group instruction, and collaboration spaces for staff. Another reason is the three-section school concept itself—there are benefits to having at least three classrooms of each elementary grade level. For example, having more students at each grade level increases teachers' ability to collaborate and to have flexible instructional or social grouping.

The task force is creating and assessing scenarios right now. If a school were to close, the task force would recommend attendance area (boundary) adjustments and determine what the receiving schools would be. The task force is looking at all our elementary schools’ square footage, number of classrooms, current enrollment and projected enrollment. (See slide 15.)

• To date, we have used over half of the $122 million bond funds approved in 2022 for Community Transitions; elementary design/planning for Carl Cozier, Columbia and Roosevelt; completing the District Office; SQHS & BHS fields and tennis courts; Cordata parking and signage; Kulshan Middle School field, four new classrooms at Kulshan; inclusive playgrounds at Silver Beach and Northern Heights; and facility improvements across the district, including safety and sustainability projects. 
   
• This leaves a balance of ~ $50 million. $48 million is being held for elementary school planning and rebuild. Additional funds are held for outdoor learning site (Gordon Carter) improvements and to complete the inclusive playground at Northern Heights.
   
• We have paused our plans to rebuild a new Carl Cozier, and we will need to decide what to do with the remaining bond funds. The answer to this question will likely be part of the recommendation from the facilities planning task force. Some of the choices include: using the remaining dollars for other critical needs in our schools (e.g., when we closed Larrabee Elementary School, the 2013 task force recommended allocating bond dollars to make improvements to Lowell to be more ready to receive students); using the remaining funds and asking voters to consider approving additional dollars to improve/rebuild a school; and/or returning money to taxpayers. 
   
• For additional context, you can see the facilities planning task force recommendation from 2021 and our 2022 bond webpage. Regarding enrollment projections and growth, you can see presentations, reports and videos on the right side of the webpage for our facilities planning task force. For historical context, you can see notes from the 2017 facilities planning task force and the projections and data we were working from at that time.