The Bellevue School District’s budget revenue is expected to continue its upward trend this coming year, but the fight over levy dollars and state education funding have them uncertain about the future.
This coming fiscal year, the Bellevue is expecting nearly $274 million in revenue, up from $259 million in 2015/2016. As revenue rises, so does the district’s enrollment, anticipated at 20,179 students this fall.
A significant portion of the new funding from the state and local levies is being used to cover the cost of increased staffing and other expenses linked to the enrollment growth.
By the end of the 2015/2016 fiscal year, the district’s reserves totalled $20.9 million — $3.7 million more than originally budgeted. Despite the budget surplus, the district will not be able to funnel any of that money towards the lost Head Start-funded preschool spots.
The entirety of Bellevue’s federal Head Start funding — close to $950,000 — was cut last month by the administering agency, the Puget Sound Educational Service District. The cut will affect more than 150 children from low-income families.
But under Bellevue’s current policies, the early learning program revenue and expenditures have to break even.
“There needs to be a board discussion and the first and second reading before you can make a policy change. There isn’t really a feasible way for us to do that in such short of a time frame, but there will be a continuing district conversation about Head Start in the year ahead, so it is possible that they may go back and revisit that policy,” district spokesperson Elizabeth Sytman told the Reporter.
Bellevue is also anticipating their revenue will decrease over the coming years as voter-approved levies come under fire.
The state is still grappling with the McCleary decision and how it will fund basic education. The Washington Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the Legislature was not fully funding education and is forcing schools to rely on local levy dollars, which are unstable.
For many districts, Bellevue included, local levy dollars make up a significant part of their revenue.
This coming school year, the district will receive just over $60 million from a local education levy. That will be 22 percent of Bellevue’s overall revenue sources for 2016-2017 (state funding will make up 59 percent of revenue).
Administrators are already aware that the Bellevue School District will see a drop in levy funding.
“We are really in a state of uncertainty,” Deputy Superintendent Melissa deVita said.
The local levy limit is currently scheduled to be reduced from 34.6 percent to 30.6 percent in the 2018 tax year, leading to a loss of over $11 million in levy dollars during the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 school years.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn also challenged districts’ reliance of levy dollars to pay for teacher salaries and other basic education expenses in a lawsuit filed last week. While Dorn said he does not blame districts for doing so, he said he is hoping his actions will force the Legislature to fully fund education.
Dorn’s lawsuit calls for reducing the district’s use of levy funds to 20 percent of their revenue, which would drop it by $25 million, deVita said.
Bellevue administrators said they were disappointed that Bellevue was one of seven districts singled out for how they use levy funds, calling their inclusion in Dorn’s lawsuit a publicity move.
“It’s pretty disturbing that we got this lawsuit from the perspective that the seven districts that he named are all operating by the funding mechanisms put in place by the state, the same as the other 288 districts that are out there,” deVita said. “Isolating these seven districts doesn’t make much sense except from the standpoint of publicity and trying to push the Legislature into action.”
