Superintendent Amii Thompson provided an update on the Bainbridge Island School District budget at the board meeting April 24, explaining the state of reductions within the district ahead of its final staffing deadline, May 8.

So far, between program cuts and reductions-in-force across five employment categories, the district is “achieving and exceeding” its goal of $6.6 million in reductions by the 2025-26 school year, which it must meet to avoid regional oversight.

“Of these five employee groups, all of [the reduction amounts] will be achieved and/or exceeded. So we are not only on track to make that $6.6 million, but we should be above that, which again is needed because of where our legislative session is leaving us with a really small amount of revenue,” said Thompson. “We didn’t expect the revenue to offset our expenses, but we did expect a little bit of revenue that would help provide us a cushion when we have unexpected expenses come in.”

BISD employees fall into one of five buckets: certificated staff (usually teachers), classified staff (usually school support), administrative staff, athletic staff and non-represented staff. Certificated staff is the largest bucket at the district with about 259 employees and was the first group to receive reduction-in-force notices due to a contractually obligated staffing deadline.

The district has reduced the equivalent of 14 certificated staff positions and about 13 programs across every school except Commodore Options, affecting 18 different roles, to achieve about $3.72 million in savings. 11 reduced positions were full-time, including nine K-6 grade schoolteachers, one K-12 physical education teacher and one K-12 school psychologist. Eight other part-time positions were reduced as well, including one high school English teacher, one math teacher at Woodward Middle School, and another PE teacher at Ordway Elementary School.

“Fourteen is a lot. We don’t want to have any, but it’s a lot less than we originally thought would have to occur,” Thompson said. “While this represents humans and they’re people that we do not want to lose, we’re also grateful that we were able to make so many different moves through attrition and program reductions without the number of overall people being impacted beyond fourteen.”

Reduction talks in two other buckets are nearing completion, but as resignations, attrition and retirements are submitted that free up funds, RIF-ed positions may be recalled, Thompson said.

The district is also shifting costs away from its general fund where possible. The athletic department, represented by the Bainbridge Extracurricular and Coaches Association, must be reduced by $60,000, but officials hope to meet with the Associated Student Body at Bainbridge High School to request that the organization cover a few costs currently paid for from the general fund. ASB’s most recent available financial documents, from the 2022-23 school year, indicate a fund balance of $577,210.

Thompson was clear that ASB is under no obligation to approve the funding — “This is money that our students have to direct, and it has to be something they want to do,” she said — but since the costs are essential parts of the high school extracurricular experience, like pieces of equipment, the district sees fit to offer the proposal.

During the April 24 meeting, school board vice president Kelly Cancialosi asked Thompson to clarify that not all the reductions are taking place due to the budget shortfall, and that some are “happening because A, we don’t have the enrollment, and B, if the kids don’t sign up for classes, we don’t have the classes?”

“That’s correct,” Thompson responded. “There is a certain amount of program reductions that happen every single year, and it doesn’t always associate itself with a RIF. It’s small, usually more incremental. It’s really common to see a fractional piece of FTE, within departments, especially at the secondary level, for course registration. For the K-6 positions, those are all due to a loss of enrollment across those sections.”

Janna Cawrse Esarey, a BISD bus driver and dispatcher, spoke out to the public after Thompson’s presentation, calling for more empathy for those employees who have received RIF notices, including her supervisor Mary Howes. There is very little middle management, she said, which means every individual counts.

“It’s important for the public to understand that RIFS, it’s not that people are being fired for doing a poor job. These are really valued people, in our staff, in our district, and they are not being let go because they are not valued — they are highly valued. I just want to say that I will very much miss them, and I’m not sure how we will…function,” Cawrse Esaray said, beginning to choke up. “But Mary Howes, my supervisor, will be very dearly missed. I just wanted the community to understand, there is not a lot of management, there is not a cushion, we are doing the best we can with what we have.”