Nearly all Whatcom County school districts are cutting budgets for 2024-2025 as districts across the state struggle with enrollment and state funding.
Dozens of school positions were eliminated in this budget cycle, some due to layoffs and others due to employees leaving or retiring and districts opting not to rehire. The Blaine, Ferndale and Mount Baker School Districts saw the steepest cuts in staffing.
Schools addressed funding challenges with creativity: Meridian School District avoided laying anyone off by asking all administrative staff members to accept a three-day furlough. Through this and reducing other supply costs, the district managed to overcome a $2 million deficit. Many relied on attrition to avoid laying people off.
Whatcom County’s challenges in school funding reflect the reality across the state. It’s not impacting just one size of district — it's across the board.
While five districts are in dire straits and in binding conditions with the state (including Mount Baker), more are experiencing cuts and talks of closing and consolidating schools.
So far, no suggestions of closing or consolidating schools have occurred in Whatcom County districts.
The Washington agency overseeing K-12 education, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) , has seen this coming: Pandemic enrollment loss leading to less funding, state funding increases not keeping pace with inflation and the ending of COVID-19 benefits all combined to create the situations districts are in.
If funding had kept pace with inflation, all school districts would be receiving about $1,000 more per student than they are right now, said OSPI spokesperson Katy Payne. In 2022-23, districts received $13,259 per student in state funding, Payne said.
OSPI will be requesting $1 billion from the state Legislature in the upcoming session to close that $1,000-per-student funding gap for all districts, Payne said, as well as requesting more special education funding and school building maintenance funding.
“At the same time as costs are increasing for goods and services, the amount that [school districts] are receiving from the state in buying power — not in nominal dollars, but in buying power — is decreasing,” she said.
The regionalization factor — which was intended to serve as a cost-of-living boost for districts facing more expensive home values — has also continued to impact districts. Four districts will see a decrease in the factor this year; Bellingham's and Ferndale's factors will decrease from 7.5% to 6%, Blaine's from 14% to 12% and Mount Baker's from 9% to 6%, according to Washington State Fiscal Information.
On enrollment, Payne said statewide trends are showing decreases or stagnation of growth in cities, while there is some growth in more rural districts due to people moving out of cities to work from home, rather than in urban offices.
That’s somewhat true in Whatcom County. Blaine, Mount Baker and Bellingham have seen the most consistent reductions in enrollment, with Mount Baker attributing some of the decreases to demographic shifts in East County. Enrollment is measured in “full-time equivalents” (FTEs), which is used to allocate funding to districts. For high school classes, it is equal to 27 hours and 45 minutes of instruction per week. Full-time equivalent is also used to measure staffing numbers.
Ferndale, Lynden, Meridian and Nooksack Valley have seen slight increases in enrollment.
Bellingham
Bellingham Public Schools is projecting $223.1 million in revenues and $230.7 million in expenditures, undertaking a “hold steady” approach after deep cuts last year.
Superintendent Greg Baker said at an Aug. 16 school board meeting that this year, revenues have increased but their expenditures have increased at a higher rate. Inflation is an ongoing challenge for this district, he said.
Next year, unless the state Legislature takes significant strides to make up funding gaps, the district will likely face cuts again.
“It would be nice to not have to do cuts but also keep investing in our schools,” Baker said.
Bellingham’s enrollment has declined slowly over the last few years, from 11,315.77 full-time equivalents in 2022-23, to 10,896 FTE in 2023-24 and 10,686 FTE projected for 2024-25, according to the district's state budget filing.
Blaine
The district made significant staff cuts again this year, following even deeper cuts the year before. The district eliminated about 30 full-time equivalents, but Superintendent Christopher Granger said the district is currently hiring back some teachers to serve the enrollment level.
The Blaine School District is expecting $40.3 million in revenue and $41.2 million in expenditures.
Blaine’s enrollment is expected to decrease again with a projected 1,945 FTE for the upcoming academic year, down from 1,989 last year. In 2022-23, Blaine had 2,031 FTE.
Enrollment in the Blaine School District has been declining since the 2019-20 school year, former Finance Director Amber Porter said at a July board meeting.
Ferndale
Ferndale School District is expecting $91.48 million in revenue with $91.47 million in expenditures, after making $5 to $6 million in reductions.
Finance Director Mark Deebach said at a June board meeting the district has been deliberately spending down its fund balance over the years, but this year, needed to make cuts.
“You can’t cut 5-6 million out of a budget that is 80 percent staff costs without having some angst,” he said.
Part of the reductions were attributed to the elimination of federal ESSER III (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund) monies — the district had $815,000 from that fund included in last year's budget.
The district eliminated four classified positions, two administrative positions and didn't renew 22 certificated provisional positions, Communications Director Celina Rodriguez confirmed.
Ferndale’s enrollment held steady this year, down just three full-time equivalents from last year at a projected 4,610.
Lynden
The Lynden School District is expecting a stable outlook — with $64 million in revenue with $64 million in expenditures. Superintendent David VanderYacht said no staffing or resources were reduced this year; the district will have a net increase of three certificated and four classified staff members.
"It has not been an easy road in education over the past few years due to inflation, volatility in student enrollment and changing needs of students," VanderYacht said. "The stable financial position we are in is a result of the hard work of our staff across all departments, particularly at the school and classroom levels. We are grateful for the citizens’ support and passage of February's educational operations levy."
Enrollment will likely increase in the upcoming school year, with the district projecting 3,437 students, up from 3,403 in the last academic year.
Lynden has sought facility upgrades due to the increase in Lynden’s population over the last few decades. VanderYacht previously told CDN that Lynden High School was built in 1980, when the city’s population was 4,000. Now almost 17,000 people live in Lynden.
A recent bond measure failed for a second time in 2024. Voters were asked to increase the tax rate to rebuild Lynden High School, add classrooms to Isom and Bernice Vossbeck elementary schools, and upgrade safety, security and accessibility across district facilities.
Meridian
Meridian School District creatively undertook nearly $2 million in reductions without laying off any staff. The district’s budget for next year is expecting $34.9 million in revenue and an equal $34.9 million in expenditures.
All members of the Meridian administrators team will take three furlough days in the new school year to reduce costs. The Meridian Middle School librarian will also be reduced to half time, and one after-school tutoring position will be reduced, according to the district’s reduced educational program. The district also chose not to replace a few positions and combined other positions.
“It was definitely a priority to keep as many jobs as possible and to be able to come out of this with basically a $2 million reduction and not having any staff members lose their jobs, that’s pretty amazing," Director of Business and Finance Daniel Yorton said at a June Meridian School Board meeting.
Enrollment at Meridian has ticked up slightly, with 1,787 full-time equivalents expected for the 2024-25 school year, up from 1,751 last year, according to the district's budget.
Mount Baker
Mount Baker continues to have close oversight from the state due to projecting a negative ending general fund balance last summer. But the district is expecting to break even with next year’s budget.
The district is expecting $34.76 million in revenue and $34.71 in expenditures. The district has eliminated just over 23 full-time equivalents, with about 12 of those coming from attrition.
Mount Baker will remain in binding conditions with the state for at least an additional year, as OSPI granted the district an extra year to build up its general fund. The state approved a plan that allows Mount Baker to simply break even this year. By the end of the 2025-26 school year, the district will need to have a positive ending general fund balance of about $1.2 million (4% of Mount Baker’s annual general fund expenditures).
Enrollment is expected to decline again this year, from 1,599 full-time equivalents last year to a projected 1,533 in 2024-25.
Finance Director Brian Fraser said Mount Baker has seen a steady enrollment decline starting in the early 2000s.
“I think that has a lot to do with the demographics, and the fact that there’s not a lot of housing being built out here,” Fraser said. He said the district will likely continue to estimate a decline in enrollment, so the district avoids facing financial challenges in the future.
Nooksack Valley
Nooksack Valley also undertook close to $1 million in reductions, without laying off any employees.
The district is estimated to have $36.8 million in revenue next year, with $37 million in expenditures.
Superintendent Matt Galley said the district achieved the needed reductions through reducing MSOC costs and by reducing staffing by 10 full-time positions — but that was all done through natural attrition of retirement or staff leaving the district on their own accord.
“We were fortunate that we were able to offer contracts to everyone planning to stay with us,” Galley said.
Nooksack Valley is expecting another increase in enrollment this year, from 1,891 full-time equivalents last year to 1,934.5 projected for 2024-25.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
