In keeping with superintendent Amii Thompson’s commitment to transparency with families and staff, the Bainbridge Island School District held 22 focus groups over six weeks to solicit input on its budget crisis.

About 40% of participants ranked the district’s most-positive attributes as “community” and “staff” as first- and second-highest out of 10 categories. But when asked about cost-savings suggestions, reductions in staff and programs bubbled to the top of the list for about half of the participants.

“The juxtaposition of asking, ‘What do you most value?’ compared to ‘What ideas do you have for reductions?’ — the irony is not lost here. No reductions are reductions that anyone wants to make,” Thompson said. These values “are real, and they’re important, and they are what we love and believe in at BISD, and we don’t have a choice. So we’re trying to be very thoughtful.”

Respondents praised BISD teachers and support staff for being knowledgeable, caring, dedicated and supportive, “who give so much of themselves to the children of this district.” Respondents also felt connected to the school community at large, citing strong personal relationships with each other and district employees. “Quality education” ranked third behind “staff,” but called out teachers’ high expectations for students, creative curriculum and enriching academic experience.

“This is helpful because as we’re taking looks at reductions, it helps us to see what are going to potentially be the most difficult reductions to make and what should potentially be the last things we are looking at when at all possible,” Thompson said.

Despite support for staff, out of 237 suggestions, 42% were related to staff reductions or changes to benefits and salaries. Cuts to programs made up about 15% of participants’ suggestions, followed by materials, supplies and operating costs at 13% and services at 12.7%. Some respondents suggested job-sharing between school district buildings or offering some electives every other year.

Thompson said the public realizes that the district’s largest expense in staffing, and that’s why it ranks so high as a cost-saving measure. Programs, however, “mean different things to different people,” which could muddle the meaning of those “cuts.”

Participants’ ideas for revenue generation ranged widely, from fundraising to converting parking lot space to boat storage, with no one clear preference. Ideas that targeted higher enrollment, such as opening a preschool or increasing the choice transfer pool, made up over a quarter of responses combined.

Both enrollment-related solutions are in the works, but their success will not be clear until next school year or later.

District officials have begun offering choice-transfer positions for students whose families work in the Chamber of Commerce or civic agencies on Bainbridge, such as the fire department, the parks district and the city, and talks of a district-run preschool or child care are underway. However, the earliest an early childhood program like preschool would be ready is the 2026-27 school year, Thompson said.