Superintendent’s Blog: Legislative Update – Governor Signs Education Bills

Dear BSD Community, 

On Tuesday, May 20, Governor Ferguson signed all of the education bills that passed through the legislature. I didn’t realize until that moment that I hadn’t really fully exhaled for the past 5 months. While public education did not receive the funding we need to close our significant budget gaps, we can breathe a sigh of relief in the bills that were signed that will benefit the Bellevue School District.  

Senate Bill 5412 will allow districts in binding conditions to sell property to restore their fund balance. Bellevue is expected to go into binding conditions (negative end-of-year fund balance) by June-August this summer. When that happens, we will be able to take advantage of this bill. Our board has already approved the sale of a piece of property that is not suitable for a school building. Although it will take 12-24 months to complete this sale, this bill will significantly accelerate the financial recovery of our school district and will prevent us from having to slowly rebuild our fund balance through additional cuts. 

House Bill 2049, signed by the governor, increases what we are allowed to collect in our local education levy. Starting January 2026, we will be able to collect $500 more per student in our local levy, capacity that Bellevue voters have already approved in the last levy election. For the 2025-2026 school year, this will bring in approximately $5 million. In 2026-2027, this will bring in approximately $10 million.  

What This Means for Next Year 

I know the $24 million in spending reductions are already having an impact on our community. Here at the district office and across schools, people are grieving the news of losing beloved teachers and staff. Staff, students, and families are sending me story after story of how much their teachers and staff mean to them. I share in the appreciation and the sadness and will continue to work diligently to ensure we have the resources needed to retain amazing staff and support our students’ learning and opportunities. 

These bills will provide some longer-term stability for the district, but unfortunately, due to the timing of when we receive these funds, we are going to have to continue to maintain the staffing cuts we have in place for next year. I’ll do my best to communicate as often as possible about what to expect for next year, but I need staff and families to know that aligning our spending to our revenue from the state for this fall will mean higher average class sizes, more combination/split classes at elementary, and less administrative support at schools and in the district. This is a reality shared across every district in Washington state. 

As we have more details, I’ll share those with the community. In the meantime, as we start end-of-year celebrations, we will do our very best to appreciate and take care of our colleagues, particularly those who have lost their positions for next year.  

Innovative Thinking Leads to Hope 

In closing, there is hope. The property sale bill which will prevent us from having to cut an additional $20-30 million over the next few years was made possible by Teresa Nguyen, one of our amazing accounting managers. In the height of our budget woes, Teresa tracked down this bill and realized that, in its original version, it wouldn’t apply to Bellevue. But with a small amendment, it would. She brought that to our attention on a Thursday, and we were able to work with Representative Lisa Callan to put in the amendment which was due the next day. This bill with the “Bellevue amendment” was passed by the legislature and then signed by the governor. One person, through innovative thinking and hard work, was able to cut our recovery process by 5-10 years — making a significant impact on thousands of students and staff. 

Even in the hardest of times, hope can be found in the high caliber staff working in our district, as well as in our families and PTSAs, in our school board and elected officials, and in our students. Teresa is an example of how each one of us does have the power to make a difference. 

So, thank you to Teresa. And thank you to everyone who makes Bellevue the world-class education system that it is and will continue to be.  

Sincerely, 

Dr. Aramaki