Bainbridge Island School Board ready to declare ‘fiscal emergency’

The Bainbridge Island School Board is expected to declare a “fiscal emergency” at its meeting on Thursday.

A resolution declaring that the district will cut staff and chop programs and services has been added to the agenda for this week’s meeting.

According to the district, the cuts are needed to bring the district’s revenues in line with expenditures.

Officials have said the amount of funding for education provided by the state and declining enrollment, as well as a drop in the district’s annual ending fund balance, make it necessary for budget cuts for the 2017-18 school year.

District officials first announced the magnitude of the expected budget cuts — which fall in the range of $2.1 million to $3.2 million — on Feb. 16, just two days Bainbridge voters gave approval to two property tax levies that will bring in $51.6 million over the next four years for school operations, programs, maintenance and technology.

The announcement caught many on Bainbridge by surprise, as district officials unveiled in a letter to staff and parents two plans that would cut staffing, programs and a potential closure of the Commodore building, which houses the district’s popular Options program.

District officials have proposed two scenarios of budget cuts.

Under one scenario, staffing and programs would be cut across the district. Staffing would be cut by $1 million, and programs, support services and other reductions across the district would total $1.1 million to $2.2 million.

Under the second scenario, which includes closing Commodore, the plan is:

The Odyssey grade 1-6 would move to Ordway with a possible addition of Odyssey kindergarten;

Odyssey grades 7-8 would move to Woodward Middle School;

Mosaic would move to a facility yet to be determined;

Eagle Harbor High would move to the campus of Bainbridge High;

Ordway’s preschool and some special education programs will be relocated to Wilkes and Blakely elementaries;

Wilkes multiage program would cease as a district choice program; and

Ordway Elementary would also lose a second-grade classroom, and have two classrooms devoted to second-graders, instead of the current three.

Under the second scenario, district officials also said staff reductions of approximately $1 million would be made.

The school board will meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 9 in the district’s board room.