School was out April 30, by the state’s calculation, but the Bainbridge Island School District still has just under two months to go.

Bainbridge Schools Foundation held a fundraiser called the “State’s Last Day of School,” coinciding with the day that school would end if the district relied exclusively on the funding it receives from the state.

State dollars make up about 73% of the district’s budget. Local revenue sources, like property tax levies, donations and grants, make up 25% and federal funding comes in at about 2%.

BSF’s event highlighted these other revenue sources, which school districts like BISD rely on to sustain aspects of education that it considers essential and budgets for, like school healthcare workers, some specialists, academic support and extracurricular programs, but that are not supported by state funding.

Property tax levies form the bulk of local financial support, such as the Enrichment and Operations Levy BI voters approved in February 2024. But the next largest source of local funding comes from non-tax-based revenue: between the Technology Levy (expenses for which are reimbursed from the Capital Projects fund) and donations from groups like BSF and Parent Teacher Organizations, this funding makes up 8% of the district’s income, or about $3.2 million.

While it’s a fraction of the budget, donations can make a big difference in schools, explained PTO Coordinating Council chair Megan Livingston. Each school’s PTO pays for slightly different things, she explained, which is crucial during budget cuts: some PTOs have volunteered to help pay for typical expenses for the district, like a math curriculum subscription, which frees up money in the general fund.

Whereas levy funds are typically earmarked for specific use, like teacher salaries, funds from BSF and PTOs can be given directly to teachers to fill in the gaps day-to-day, Livingston said.

“We can’t fund people, but we can fund materials, subscriptions, grants for teachers, and so on. And as the state funds public education less and less, we do end up supporting more programs financially,” Livingston said. “Things like consumables are very expensive — think about supplies you use in a science class, for example — but they’re essential for instruction.”

Groups like the PTOCC and BSF meet with school administrators and district leadership throughout the year to determine funding priorities, said Rebecca Walliman, director of BSF.

Over about a decade, she’s noticed that those priorities have shifted from funding initiatives like the El Velero Spanish immersion program at Ordway Elementary toward funding classroom essentials like academic interventionists. Conversations with foundation leaders in other school districts have shown a similar pattern, she said.

“State funding does not accommodate the needs of our schools,” Walliman said. “This isn’t just happening on Bainbridge Island — districts throughout the state, including Mercer Island, Bellevue, and others in Eastern Washington, are seeing the same pressures. We’re lucky that the Bainbridge community steps up both through our levies and by supporting BSF.”

Siri Miller, a K-12 art teacher at Commodore Options, has seen how budget strain taxes schools up close. Very little of her class’s funding comes from the district, she said, but in the face of a $6.6 million deficit in the 2025-26 school year, everything felt uncertain.

“When there’s nothing in the budget, other specialists and I thought we were gone,” she said. “As an art teacher, I know the state doesn’t pay for my elementary art classes. But I’m here teaching them, because BISD has decided this is important.”

Miller’s role was not one of the 18 positions reduced so far as part of the district’s cost-saving efforts, but other specialists were not so lucky. All staff librarians were reduced, as well as one school psychologist. A full list of reductions was released May 8, after this newspaper’s deadline.

After a year of intense financial adjustments, BISD may have made more progress than anticipated. As of the April 24 school board meeting, BISD has a fund balance of $819,000, meaning it is able to delay taking out a second interfund loan — “with the hope that will no longer be necessary,” said district financial director Kim Knight.