Opinion - Whatcom View

POSTED: Monday, Jun. 22, 2009

School district has funds to reopen Lowell school

The Bellingham School District - its board and administrators - are making decisions now, with their 2009-10 budget and building plans, that will close neighborhood schools and irrevocably change the face and growth patterns of our city.

Like every school district, Bellingham has been looking for ways to cut spending to make up for revenue shortfalls. But unlike other school districts in Whatcom County, Bellingham is the only one closing a school to save money, and also is continuing to build new schools it doesn't have funds to operate, while enrollment remains flat.

Citizens, the Bellingham City Council, and the Mayor's Neighborhood Advisory Commission have urged the school board to re-open Lowell School this fall and to continue to operate Larrabee and Columbia elementary schools. The city's comprehensive plan views neighborhood schools as integral to the city's health and core values.

But the school board and district office are acting as if in a vacuum - they are not required to listen to city or county leaders.

Before coming up with a budget, and before federal and state spending were announced, the school district went ahead with $2.5 million in spending cuts, based on a list approved by the school board and compiled by an advisory committee.

Now the draft budget is out, revenue is down $580,000, or 0.6 percent, not the projected $3 million to $5 million. The budget was released June 15, and is scheduled for a school board vote June 25, with the only public hearing immediately preceding the vote.

Take a close look at this $100 million budget, because it has good news:

- Spending is set at $1 million below revenue, which means the district's "rainy day" fund, called the unreserved fund, has grown to 4.4 percent of the overall budget. District policy calls for a reserve fund worth between 3 percent and 5 percent of the budget.

- More than $1.3 million of federal money will be used to hire back teachers: The district will employ 500 full-time equivalent basic education teachers, down only 4.5 from this year. Class sizes will not suffer, and our teachers will have jobs.

The district's explanation for having made the $2.5 million in cuts, and keeping a school closed, is that stimulus funding is restricted in its use, and can't be redirected to make up for budget shortfalls in other areas.

But if any day is a rainy day, this is it. Administrators keep telling us their hands are tied, but the district could choose to keep the fund at 4 percent - a very fiscally responsible number - and open Lowell School on schedule, without endangering any programs or future funding.

Instead, the district is choosing to keep Lowell closed, and house the entire student body - which unlike this year will also include full-time kindergarten and fifth-grade classes - at Happy Valley Elementary.

Where will all these students be housed? In seven portables, which the school district called substandard when it promoted the $67 million bond in 2006 to build Wade King Elementary, ease overcrowding, and retrofit four schools, including Lowell. Meanwhile, a beautifully restored school sits empty.

It's time the district makes operating its schools a priority. The district says it is short on operating funds, but flush with capital funds, and is continuing to build new schools without money to operate them. The superintendent, in proposing a capacity study, said he offers no promise that Lowell will reopen, or that any other school won't close. He wants a new advisory committee to look at how efficient our schools are, not how well they teach and graduate students, but how much the buildings cost.

This is a prelude to closing more schools so operating funds and students can be redirected into the new schools on the outskirts of town.

Closing schools destroys family-oriented neighborhoods. Neighborhood schools encourage parent involvement, which creates a sense of community and produces majority decisions we need to pass bonds.

These are the neighborhoods Bellingham has been so careful to preserve when planning for growth and infill, and avoiding sprawl. They are what make Bellingham a very desirable place to live and raise a family.

The decisions the school board members make today will affect our community for decades to come. We should treasure and protect our schools, not throw them away.

Melissa Schapiro, a co-founder of Neighborhood Schools Coalition, has four children attending Bellingham Public Schools. Follow the blog at neighborhoodschoolscoalition.blogspot.com

Meeting Thursday

The Bellingham School Board will meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 25, in the Board Room at the Roeder Administration Building, 1306 Dupont St.

Approval of the 2009-10 budget is on the agenda. Members of the public can sign up before the meeting to speak during the public-comment period.