Position cuts, pay freezes hit Bellingham schools amid budget shortfall
Positions across Bellingham Public Schools will be eliminated for the 2025-2026 school year, with a focus on cuts “farthest from the classroom,” as the district works to close its estimated $11.4 million budget gap.
Originally estimated as a $15 million budget deficit, the recently approved state budget closed a bit of that gap by providing additional funding for special education, materials, supplies and operating costs, along with an increased levy cap, which will allow the district to ask for a higher voter-approved amount in 2026.
District officials plan to close the gap further by raising new revenue through increases in facility rental fees and meal costs, fees for driver’s education and high school athletics, and partnerships with sponsors and the Bellingham Public Schools Foundation.
With about 75% of the original $15 million deficit still to address after those adjustments, teachers and staff in other certificated positions will be eliminated along with staff at the district level, BPS officials told The Bellingham Herald.
“Budget planning is complex and challenging, especially when decisions we make will affect our schools, students, families and the livelihoods of our staff,” Superintendent Greg Baker said in a message to the community on May 9.
Plans are also in place to implement pay freezes and add furlough days for administrators, which will save the district an estimated $1 million, officials told The Herald.
Budget impact at the administrative level
The superintendent himself will have his pay frozen at its 2024-25 rate and will take eight unpaid nonwork days by the end of the next school year.
All other executive team administrators, principals, assistant principals and directors will also see their pay frozen at its current rate.
About eight administrators and support staff positions district wide, including those at the District Office, will be reduced through layoffs, attrition through retirement, and employee options to take leave.
Those positions include:
▪ Director of Facilities and Sustainability
▪ Director of Health Services
▪ Manager of Computer Services
▪ Executive Chef of Food Services
▪ Manager of Capital Projects
▪ Food Services Accounting Technician
Other positions will see their hours reduced, including:
▪ Teachers on Special Assignment
▪ Assistant Director of Teaching & Learning
▪ Manager of Human Resources
▪ Finance administrative assistant
▪ Health Services administrative assistant
▪ Teaching and Learning administrative assistant
“We heard from our community to first look to reduce staff farthest from the classroom, including administrators and/ or staff at the District Office,” Bellingham Public Schools Assistant Communications Director Dana Smith said in a statement to The Herald.
Smith said the reduction of these positions will likely come with impacts.
“Our goal is to minimize the impact of these cuts to our schools and students,” Smith said. “That said, it is always difficult when program leadership is reduced. Although essential duties will likely be reassigned, this means other staff will need to take on additional work to support and compensate, and there may be areas where we have less capacity.”
Teachers and school staff will also see losses
Teachers and school staff across the district will be cut, despite cuts at the administrative level, according to Smith. An anticipated 15 certificated full-time positions and 2.2 full-time positions will be reduced across all 22 schools in the district. Although the district was able to make fewer cuts to personnel and jobs due to the support and collaboration of the district’s labor groups, Smith said.
Some of these reductions have already begun this year through attrition and leaves of absence, Smith told The Herald.
The district also plans to reduce the number of paid professional development days for certificated staff; to cut one school day during which school staff will go unpaid; and to defer 1% of the teachers’ contracted pay increase and reduce contracts by one day for paraeducators and support staff.
Class sizes from grades 4 through 12 are also expected to increase by an average of about one to two students per class, according to Smith. She said reducing class size would be prioritized in the future should the district receive any additional state revenue.
An increased cost for families, broader community
Although some cost savings are expected through things like the district’s new propane buses due to be in operation next school year, the district plans to generate new revenue streams that will impact families, students and taxpaying community members.
The district plans to consider asking voters to fund a capital maintenance levy, which would cover costs to maintain schools and facilities while further prioritizing general fund dollars for classrooms.
The district also anticipates increasing lunch prices for families in paid status by $0.25. Students’ families will also be asked to contribute a $100 fee for driver’s education and high school sports.
The district will request Associated Student Bodies (ASBs) to fund uniform purchases and athletics invite event costs through fundraising or club funds. The district is also looking at opportunities to gain advertising dollars through high school sports apps and scoreboards.
The district plans to reduce its financial support of elementary PTA/PTO enrichment, with the exception of high-poverty Title schools, which are schools that receive federal funding under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to support students from low-income families.
Facility rental fees will also be increased to align with other local community facility costs.
