The Bainbridge Island School District passed its budget for the upcoming school year at its Aug. 28 meeting, with just a few updates from its preliminary look in July.

As of the start of the 2025-26 school year, BISD is on track to regain financial health, explained financial director Kim Knight. However, the budget could go from in-recovery to robust within the next four years if voters approve the district’s supplemental levy in November.

“We are required to have a four-year outlook; districts use this as a process of telling their story to community, but also to [the state superintendent]. Given where we have been over the last year, our story is one of hard work and a focus on the future, that we intend to be in a good place in the next couple of years, that we will make it happen and do what it takes,” said Knight.

After over a year of program and staff reductions, negotiations with district unions, a loan borrowed from levy funds, new student fees, adjustments to staff hours and responsibilities, and the looming threat of state control — as well as no small fundraising effort by student groups, local public education foundations and extracurricular supporters — BISD will enter the ‘25-26 school year in the black, with about $1 million in its fund balance.

“While that takes us out of the realm of any need to worry about binding conditions, we still have some work to do to stabilize over the long run,” said Knight.

All told, BISD’s revenue will be about $67.2 million, with expenditures at about $66 million. Nearly $50 million in revenue will come from the state, both for general funding and special education. The district has calculated about $12 million this year collected from levy taxes, which could increase if the public votes to support its supplemental levy this coming November.

On Aug. 29, BISD repaid its loan from the district’s Capital Projects fund in full, with $54,000 in interest. The interest was deposited back into the general fund. Knight added that she is “optimistic” that an additional loan will not be necessary, assuming voters pass the supplemental levy — but if the levy does not pass, it’s possible the district will have to borrow again.

“I think if we can pass a supplemental levy, then we will be in really solid shape next year,” Knight said.

With a narrow gap between revenues and expenditures, financial changes over the course of the school year, such as updates to staffing needs, will require cautious and intentional planning, explained superintendent Amii Thompson.

Since the July 31 board meeting, the district quietly made a few updates to staffing without adjusting its fiscal bottom line. Some of the changes involved existing staff — including additional hours for teachers leading core 7th, 9th and 10th grade classes as well as simplifying the location assignments for two certificated staffmembers split between two buildings — but some changes added to the roster.

One librarian for middle and high school and about two certificated staffmembers were called back into play for the ‘25-26 school year, Thompson announced. The updates came down to the wire; the district’s fiscal year ended Aug. 31, and school administrators did not begin discussing the additional staffing needs until Aug. 22.

“There is a cost of action. There is also a cost of inaction. As we look across our K-12 buildings, we see areas that are like pinch points that may not work for our students or for our students and staff. We have a responsibility to weigh out the cost,” said Thompson. “The cost of action versus inaction in that whole entire thing — the adding of sections at BHS, the 7-12 librarian, recalling staff members, making staff members whole — the difference between the action and inaction there is about the cost of half of one certificated staff member.”