BISD budget issues

To the editor:

(Bainbridge Island School District) has been stirring up a lot of commotion recently about budget issues. As a student at (Bainbridge High School), I’ve watched staff, parents, and students fight hard to prevent cuts. The district points blame at the state for underfunding them for years. Is the state responsible for these issues?

BISD claims the state allocates $95,414 per teacher for 193.86 teachers, while we need 233 teachers at 114,269 per teacher. BISD has about 3,600 students, so with just the state-allocated teachers, there would be a student-teacher ratio of 18.5, well within the ideal range agreed upon by experts. Last year, the average teacher salary in Washington was about $86,000, however, the average superintendent salary in Washington is estimated to be around $150,000, while our superintendent got about $336,000 last year. What is the reason for this huge difference?

BISD also cites declining enrollment as a contributing factor to budget issues. Birth rates and home prices are two main factors. U.S birth rates peaked in 2007, and housing prices around Seattle have been rising fast for over a decade, meaning this issue should’ve been planned for. During the recent Blakely rebuilding, it was built for a larger capacity than the student population. Why was the data not taken into account?

According to our school administration, the situation with the state is “unconstitutional” since they are not providing ample funding as promised in our constitution. We should be asking, is the state really responsible?

Nolan Harui

Bainbridge Island

BIMA wrong

The curtain has been pulled back on the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. BIMA can hang all the beautiful paintings they want of Native Americans, people of color, and women and crown themselves with the halo of diversity and inclusion.

But when it came to the very real truth of the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government, their thin veneer falls.

They can deny it’s about anti-semitism (or a wealthy donor), but supporting Palestine has nothing to do with anti-semitism. It’s about hatred of what the Israeli government and military are doing to innocent humans. Genocide. Ethnic cleansing. Starvation. Murder.

I have not met one single Jewish person who supports what the Israeli government is doing in Gaza. I’m sure there are many who do support it, just like we have MAGA supporting the degrading and dehumanizing actions the current administration is doing in the U.S.

BIMA’s action has shown the underbelly of our country. We can decry racism, xenophobia, misogyny, Trump and MAGA. But the reality is only a small minority are actually speaking up and standing up against the horror happening in our country and the world.

Eileen Sickle

Bainbridge Island