Looking ahead: potential budget challenges for the 2025-26 school year; watch video

A Message from Superintendent Greg Baker

Dear students, staff, families and community,

While we are only in the first two months of the school year, we are already looking ahead and planning for the 2025-26 school year. 聽I鈥檇 like to take a moment and share the current conditions our district is facing alongside most others around the state.

As many of you are aware, nearly every district in our state, including ours, is facing budget challenges for 2025-26.

Due to limited state funding that has not kept pace with inflation, districts will find themselves in a difficult position to make hard decisions to maintain a balanced budget while ensuring schools have the resources necessary to provide high-quality education for all students.

The Washington State Constitution says that 鈥渢he state鈥檚 primary responsibility is to make ample provision for the education of all children.鈥 With that in mind, we have been meeting with local lawmakers to share information about our budget and what changes could help fix our circumstances.

Our state鈥檚 funding model is flawed and does not reflect the reality of what we need.聽 We rely heavily on our local voters to consider levy measures to provide additional revenue to support staff and programs in our district. With rising costs, it鈥檚 simply not enough.

While we are grateful that our Bellingham community historically supports our school levies, the state limits how much we can collect. And more importantly, local communities should not need to make up for the basic funding that the state should provide. Again, to emphasize the urgency of this moment, unless Washington state increases its funding, districts across the state will need to make significant changes and budget cuts.

I encourage you to watch a where I explain the current budget context. We have included chapters for jumping to topics.

Additionally, I am including resources that may help you better understand the budget situation. This budget webpage has links to resources, including BPS legislative priorities and the state鈥檚 priorities.

I am confident we will get through this tough budget cycle. We remain committed to finding solutions with the state to ensure that every student receives the education they deserve.

Greg Baker