The special June 10 meeting of the Bainbridge Island School Board was a windfall for the district and school programs, but other income sources down the line will require some planning.
Superintendent Amii Thompson accepted a check for $425,000 from the Bainbridge Schools Foundation June 10, a lump-sum donation that the district receives annually from the philanthropy group.
The cash covers retroactive expenses, and means a lot to the district, Thompson said. In the past year, BSF funding has paid staffing costs for academic intervention, educational support, and development of the district’s social-emotional learning curriculum, including staff training and creation of instructional materials.
“When you hear us talk about interventionists — and we’ve had to reduce interventionists due to our budget situation currently — BSF plays a key role in allowing us to have the interventionists that we were able to maintain because without them, we do not receive funding from the state for these positions, and they are key to meeting the needs of our students,” said Thompson.
The district managed to cut $6.8 million in expenses last year through staff and program reductions, after financial director Kim Knight discovered in October that the 2024-25 budget set the district on track to end the year without a dime.
Several interventionist staff members saw their hours reduced and a few positions were cut entirely — but those that will continue next year are supported through BSF dollars.
“As the BSF representative for the last couple of years, I have seen this amazing group of education advocates come together month after month, and just deliver for our students. [They] are at the forefront of this, at the tip of the spear, working day in and day out to engage donors and to work with our district to find the best way for that extra money to really make an impact,” said BISD Boardmember Evan Saint Clair.
Aside from funding from BSF, BISD schools, clubs and sports teams collectively accepted over $890,000 in donations at the June 10 meeting — $819,000 of which went to Woodward Middle School from the BI Youth Soccer League for new lighting on the school’s north and south fields.
With the recent changes to levy laws at the state level, the district may also consider seeking additional funding through a supplemental levy starting in 2026, if the district files by the August deadline. School boardmembers heard a presentation from education finance consulting firm DA Davidson.
“We use the [phrase] often ‘Levies are for learning,’ and this is extra, flexible revenue from local taxpayers to supplement basic education. We use it for athletics and other programs; however, since the state isn’t fully funding basic education, we’re still using these funds for utilities, janitorial, special education, transportation,” said Cory Plager, consultant and former director of finance for the Northeast Washington Education Service District. “While I say it’s flexible revenue, it is to the point that it isn’t. There’s still a gap that needs to be filled by local taxpayers to support our educational systems.”
State legislature raised the levy lid in the 2024-25 session, which allows school districts to amend their existing education and operations levies by about $500 per pupil — which in BISD’s case would result in an additional $1.1 million in 2026, followed by $1.5 million in 2027 and $1.9 million in 2028.
“There’s been 27 supplemental levies in our state since 2010, and 19 have passed — so that’s a 70% approval rate, when historically in our state, 92.5% of measures pass. We attribute that to one word: supplemental. This is not replacing an expiring levy, so that supplemental is a difficult challenge to overcome, and accountability and explaining the necessity of that supplemental levy is so critical,” Plager said.
