Final Revisions to the 2025-26 Spending Reduction Plan Proposal

Dear Bellevue School District Community,

Since the February 6, 2025 School Board meeting when I announced the initial $20 million spending reduction proposal, I have been incredibly moved by the reaction of our community. As impactful as the spending reductions are, our community has been united in their support of the need to stabilize our finances. All the feedback I’ve read from the surveys, the e-mails, and the everyday conversations with staff, families, and students, I’ve been struck by everyone’s commitment to support the thriving of one another and our district.

This past Thursday, March 6, 2025, we had a Special Board Meeting with extended public comment so that the community could share their input in person (or online) regarding the spending reduction plan. This marked the last step in our feedback phase. I want to thank everyone who shared their perspectives with us. In particular, I want to shout out the students who came to public comment and shared with such courage and heart how BSD mental health supports have impacted them. Your stories of overcoming struggles and the importance of mental health supports in school were deeply compelling.

In this webpage, “Final Revisions to the 2025-26 Spending Reduction Plan proposal,” I summarize what we heard from the community during the community feedback phase and then share the revisions to the spending reduction plan based on that feedback. In addition, I reiterate the programs and services that aren’t impacted, share detailed numbers on how much we’re saving by category, remind us of our restoration plan priorities if additional funding comes from our state legislature, explain how we used Procedure 0130P — Equity Driven Decision Making — to guide our process, and, finally, project our path forward.

At the March 13, 2025 School Board meeting, the School Board will be voting on this final, revised proposal. Thank you again to the BSD community for leaning in together to tackle these challenges and chart a stronger future for our district.

In service of our community,

Dr. Kelly Aramaki
Superintendent, Bellevue School District

After the release of the initial spending reduction proposal on February 6, 2025, which was developed after a one-month community input phase, we launched into a monthlong community feedback phase. Community members (staff, students, families) were able to complete a survey, e-mail feedback to communityinput@bsd405.org, or give public testimony at a Special Board Meeting on March 6, 2025. In addition, in accordance with our equity-driven decision-making procedure, we conducted additional outreach to groups of students and families who were less likely to have filled out the survey, including families who are unhoused or families who don’t speak English.  Altogether, the following are the high-level themes from the feedback received:

• Compared to earlier this year, members of our community have a better understanding of our fiscal situation and the need to make spending reductions.
• The feedback on the proposal varied somewhat depending on role (student, staff, families, community) and perspective (ex. elementary, middle, high). High school students, for example, talked about the importance of maintaining programs and services that have helped them (ex. MHAT, Summit), and they highlighted specific, supportive adults in their schools. Families talked about staff they view as critical supports in their child’s schools from special education inclusion support to assistant principals. Families from higher needs groups (ex. unhoused) talked about the importance of family engagement specialists. Many staff talked about the importance of support staff in supporting staff and student needs.
• In general, our staff are feeling the greatest impact of the spending reduction proposal.
• People want the district to mitigate the impact on student learning and mental health in particular.
• There is continued desire to tighten up staffing at central office and find efficiencies in spending and operations (ex. transportation).
• The community encourages continued transparency in communication.

For a more specific report on the feedback we received, view the PowerPoint presented to the School Board on March 6, 2025. For other languages, go to our district budget webpage and scroll down to “Community Engagement Feedback."

With the goal of $20 million in spending cuts and the risks associated with not reducing spending enough, there were very few places we could adjust. However, the following are revisions based on the feedback from students, staff, families, and community.

• Mental Health Services – Rather than eliminating the Mental Health Assistance Team (MHAT) completely which were funded by ESSER funds during COVID, our goal is to maintain five MHAT counselors funded primarily by general funds but supplemented by community donations through the Bellevue Schools Foundation (BSF). Each comprehensive high school will have an MHAT counselor. The two choice schools (Big Picture and International) will share an MHAT counselor. And, together, the five MHAT counselors will be assigned a middle school to support. With reduced district-based mental health supports next year, our MHAT counselors and school counselors will also coordinate with external mental health providers and partners to support student mental health and wellness. We are grateful to the Bellevue Schools Foundation for their support of mental health and will be jointly communicating with our community ways in which families can support mental health services in Bellevue.
• Family Engagement Specialists – We will maintain six full-time family engagement specialists to support our students and families in need. The majority of the family engagement specialists will provide direct support to families in our highest needs schools, while 1-2 of the family engagement specialists will serve as a resource to families in need across all remaining schools.
• Improve Transportation Efficiencies Through Bell Time Adjustments – Based on community feedback to find efficiencies in operations, we are planning to save approximately $200,000 (equivalent to the salaries of an MHAT counselor and paraprofessional) by making minor adjustments to school start and end times that may impact approximately 5-6 schools. If every region of the city (West, East, South) has both earlier start schools and later start schools, buses can cut their route times down and save on time, miles, fuel, environmental impact, and expenditures.
• School-based Administrative Support – Schools with fewer than 700 students will reduce by 1 assistant principal, with the following exceptions: Schools eligible for Title 1 funding (Ardmore, Sherwood Forest, Lake Hills, and Stevenson) will retain half-time assistant principals. 6-12 Options Schools (Big Picture and International) will retain half-time assistant principals. Highland Middle School will retain a full-time assistant principal. (Note: There were a number of comments from the community about trying to preserve additional elementary assistant principals; unfortunately, unless the funding model dramatically increases from the state, this is a resource we can’t sustain. As we start next year, we will keep a close eye out on the impact on schools.)
• Central Office Reductions – We will reduce additional executive and central leadership positions as possible and restructure the district leadership team to more efficiently support schools.
• Summit Program at High School – Although we don’t have the resources to maintain Summit in its current form for next year, students who have participated in Summit were effective in sharing how critical Summit is for students with significant mental health needs. We are committed to working through the summer to see if we can find a way to maintain some type of Summit support for students for next year.

Although $20 million in spending reductions is substantial and will have a significant impact on how we do things in the Bellevue School District, it is important to reiterate what is NOT being cut. Overwhelmingly, we heard from students, staff, and families that these programs, resources, and structures are highly valued and critically important for our students, academically and social-emotionally. Here’s a just a partial list of services, programs, and supports that Bellevue is known for that was not targeted in our spending reductions:

• 7-period day – We will maintain our 7-period day at middle and high school, preserving students’ opportunities to take a wide array of electives and courses based on their interests.
• Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) Classes – We will continue to offer a wide range of advanced classes.
• Advanced Learning Services – We are preserving Advanced Learning (AL) services.
• Career and Technical Education (CTE) – We are maintaining (or in some cases growing) our highly popular CTE courses such as: horticulture, culinary arts, costume design, welding, construction, CISCO, nursing, flight and space, and more.
• Language Programs & Choice Schools – We are maintaining our nationally-renowned language programs and choice schools.
• Athletics, Activities, Extracurriculars & Clubs – Responsive to student input on how important athletics, activities, extracurriculars, and clubs are not just for cultivating passions but also for community and mental health, we are maintaining these key features of a BSD education for our students.
• Elementary Specialists – We are continuing to invest in elementary music, band/orchestra, art, PE, and library at all elementary schools, plus computer science at Title 1-funded elementary schools.
• Elementary Counselors – We are maintaining full-time counselors in our elementary schools (with two in each Title 1-funded elementary school).
• Nursing – We are not proposing any substantial changes to school-based nursing.

There is so much more that we are maintaining that is not part of the reduction plan, but these give you an idea of how many student-facing supports, services, and programs we are able to preserve despite the reductions.

Public education in the State of Washington is grossly underfunded. We are advocating with our partners (including the Bellevue Education Association, Bellevue Council PTSA, and the Bellevue Schools Foundation) for the state legislature to provide ample and equitable public education funding. Our goal is to bring additional revenue to our district in the 2025 legislative session. If we are able to secure additional resources, the following priorities will drive our restoration plan:

• Restore Fund Balance to $20 million – The first priority whether or not we receive additional funds from the state is to work to restore our fund balance to the 5-6% of our annual budget which equates to approximately $20 million. This is necessary so that we have enough cash on hand to pay our monthly commitments (salaries, contracts, utility bills, etc.). $15 million is the bare minimum to not have to worry about possibly having to borrow to pay our bills, so any additional funding that comes from the state would first go toward reaching at least $15 million in unrestricted cash on hand. Realistically, it is possible that any additional funds that come from the state from this legislative session will have to go to restoring our fund balance.
• School-Based Staffing – Beyond restoring the fund balance, schools, student supports, and staff supports are our first priority for restoration. If we receive additional funds, and we have needs such as high class sizes or caseloads or students that need additional support, we will invest in school-based staffing.
• Student Behavior and Mental Health Supports – Student social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs continue to be high post pandemic. Restoring these supports, such as mental health counselors, PBIS specialists, and assistant principals, will be a key priority when additional funds are available.
• Strategic Plan Investments – Bellevue is a top-rated school district nationally. We want to innovate and refine our supports for our students so that we continue to lead the way in delivering on a world-class education. Our strategic plan was developed by and for our community and includes priorities such as ‘inclusion and accessibility’ and ‘multilingualism for all.’ As funding becomes available, we will continue to invest in our strategic plan so that the Bellevue School District continues to thrive and draw students and families.
• Operational Excellence – Part of what makes our district world-class are our operations teams, from our nutrition services staff to our custodians to our bus drivers. With additional revenue, we want to restore operational staff so that we can continue to provide the service our staff, students, and families so deeply appreciate.

Board Procedure 0130P dictates that, in our efforts to deliver on a world class education for each and every student, we follow a decision-making process that identifies those in greatest need and provide supports to meet those needs as best as possible. This procedure guided the entirety of this spending reduction proposal design and decision-making. Here are some of features of EDDM in this process and outcome:

• From the very beginning, we intentionally reached out to families and students who would be impacted by these decisions but are less likely to share their input in the traditional ways. Through empathy interviews or focus groups, we asked for input and feedback from families who are unhoused, families who speak a home language other than English, and students who represent groups that our district has not effectively served historically. We elevated those voices and stories at School Board study sessions and meetings, and we went back to these families once we had a proposal drafted that incorporated their input.
• In the spending reduction plan, we identified the student groups in our district that we have not served nor supported as effectively as others (as measured by academic outcomes). We then buffered those groups from spending reductions as possible. This included prioritizing supports and investments in our higher poverty (Title 1 funded) schools.
• Finally, in the final spending reduction plan, equitable supports were maintained as possible to support our highest needs student populations. These include maintaining investments such as:
  • Administrative support, computer science specialists, and additional counseling at Title 1 funded elementary schools
  • Graduation Success Coaches
  • Family Engagement Specialists
  • Social Worker support for unhoused students and families
  • Preserving MHAT services (5 MHAT) at our high schools and middle schools