No More School Closures!

Voices from Bellevue Parents: Keep all BSD schools Open! No more school closures! 

KeepChinookOpen! KeepTillicumOpen! KeepOdleOpen! KeepHighlandOpen! KeepTyeeOpen!

Questions? please email voiceofbellevueparents@gmail.com

Why are we doing this as Bellevue parents?

Following closing two elementary schools, Wilburton (opened in 2018) and Eastgate in March 2023, per plan shared in BSD Board Meeting on 17-Aug 2023, BSD called out proposal to consolidate middle school(s) in 2024-2025 to resolve expected budget deficit.

As Bellevue Parents, we oppose to the only option (closing middle school) BSD shared during parent engagement sessions in late Oct. Closing schools is a simplistic and very destructive response to budget deficit challenges faced across west Washington state. We are very concerned of BSD's rush decisions leading toward a possible vicious downward spiral for k-12 public education for Bellevue families. We ask BSD to respect families (students and parents) enough to have an honest conversation with transparency to solve the challenges at hand. Parents and BSD have the common goal to solve the challenges!

• Key Updates:  

  • • Bills on applying regionalization factor for local levy going through legislature sessions. These bills advocate for applying regional adjustments (e.g. cost of living factor) for the local levy cap (similar to  regionalization applied to state fund) supporting public schools. They will help address the budget deficits faced by BSD and other public school districts. See BSD board meeting update on Jan-25 2024 for more context.

      • HB 2215  (house bill) Call to Action: send your comment supporting the bill direct link to comment at https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/2215 

      • SB 5956  (senate bill) Call to Action: send your comment supporting the bill  direct link to comment at https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/5956

        • Jan 3 Prefiled for introduction.

        • Jan 8 First reading, referred to Early Learning & K-12 Education.

        • Jan 15 Public hearing in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education at 1:30 PM.

        • Jan 31 Scheduled for executive session in the Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education at 10:30 AM (Subject to change)

• 🎉🎉🎉12/14, BSD has announced that they will pauses plan to consolidate middle schools,  until 2025/10, video, Komo News King5 News Thank you all the volunteers, parents, students, teachers and BSD members who helped us during the campaign! We made it! 🎉🎉🎉

• 12/15, Survey from BSD about this new update, please provide your feedback and your suggestions for next step.  

• 12/14 Thursday,  4:30PM,  Please join us to attend BSD Board meeting,  share your voice and support our school.
  Here are the data,  posters and flyers for you to print and display. We will also dispatch them on spot.
  Where: Wilburton Instructional Service Center, Rainier Room, 12241 Main St Bellevue, WA 98005
  Online:  Meeting Link , Please change your profile picture to this to show your support.

•  OLYMPIA—December 6, 2023—Today, Chris Reykdal, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) announced that enrollment in Washington’s public schools this fall has climbed by nearly 2,000 students when compared to fall of last school year. 

• Dec 11, 2023 new video above on neighboring school districts handling 2024-2025 budget deficits.

• Watch and share the video above from a Bellevue parent on BSD middle school consolidation.

• ✍️ Please take this two question Parent/Student Survey designed by BSD parent, here. (<1 minute, about your opinions of school closure) 

• Dec 7 Thu, @4:30pm BSD board meeting Where: Wilburton Instructional Service Center, Rainier Room, 12241 Main St Bellevue, WA 98005

• Dec 14 Thu, @4:30pm BSD board meeting

• Jan 11 Thu, @4:30pm BSD board meeting

• Jan 25 Thu, @4:30pm BSD board meeting

• • • Upcoming Events

      • See top section of Key Updates on supporting local levy regionalization bills.

• Stay Informed: 

  • 🔥 Look for more information as parents? Go through LearnMore page for more relevant information through data from BSD and neighboring school districts from Issaquah (ISD), Lake Washington (LWSD), Northshore (NSD) and Seattle (SPS).  key callouts are:

    • SPS: Expect 104M gap (about 10% of overall budget) for 2024-2025, and 129M gap for 2025-2026. On Nov 15 SPS presented high level strategy of no school closure for 2024-2025, and plan for major change in 2025-2026. See details here and news here.

    • NSD: Given actual enrollment increase from 2023 Oct data, adjusted enrollment assumption to flat YoY in the future. Consider various options other than school consolidation to tackle expected budget deficit. See details here.

    • LWSD: Actual enrollment increase for 2022-2023, but slight decrease for 2023-2024 actual, adjusted enrollment assumption to slight decrease YoY in the future. Has a strong financial standing in its General Fund. No extra cost reduction is needed. See details here.

    • ISD: Initial 2024-2025 enrollment projections indicate slight decline YoY, projecting a flat year end fund balance for 2023-2024. School closures are not under consideration. See details here.

    • BSD: Enrollment forecast project average 350 YoY decline through 2030, even though 2023 actual enrollment is higher than 2022, and clearly shows 2023-2024 enrollment underestimation (by 400-600) for both demographer forecasts. Expect 2024-2025 budget deficit of 8.5M (about 2% of overall budget) and engaged parents in late Oct on the option of middle school consolidation without providing specific alternative options. See details here. Also refer to alternative BSD enrollment analysis from Bellevue parent.

Potential options to tackle BSD's expected budget deficit of $8.5M for 2024-2025 (page 20):

• Revenue increase of 3.5M (assuming flat enrollment 2024-2025 instead of 350 enrollment decline YoY). Given enrollment 2023 actual (18585) is 175 higher than 2022 actual (18306) per study, it seems fairly reasonable to revise enrollment forecast from average 350 decline YoY to stay flat YoY at minimum. 

• Saving of $9M by reducing BSD Central Admin budget from 7.67% to 5.32%. Even just reducing to 6%, will save 6.4M

• Other options from legislator changes: e.g. Increase local tax levy cap. Learn more on this topic here

• Current BSD school consolidation plan

• What we can do？

  • Speak up:  

    • Attend BSD board meeting , for schedule, click here, 

    • you need to register here to speak, but simply attending it and display poster will also help! 

    • Send emails to BSD board: https://bsd405.org/about/school-board/meet-the-board/  

  • Demonstrate: 

    • Sign the petition  (for Odle) (No donation pls): https://www.change.org/p/pls-dont-close-odle , http://tinyURL.com/OdlePetition  

    • Sign the petition (for Tyee): https://www.change.org/p/no-middle-school-consolidation-keep-tyee-open , https://chng.it/dbF2WwSYfz 

    • Sign the petition (for Highland): https://www.change.org/p/prevent-the-consolidation-or-closure-of-highland-middle-school 

    • Sign the petition (for Tillicum): change.org

    • Print and post signs to express your opinion: templates

    • Amazon link to buy Signs :  10 Pack 19 x 14 Inches White  Yard Signs -  https://a.co/d/2o14Hrl 

  • Vote:

    • [Due 7-Nov] 2023 Nov. General Election: https://kingcounty.gov/en/legacy/depts/elections/elections/current-elections/november-general.aspx 

  • Spread:

    • This website

• References:

  • • • Relevant BSD information

        • BSD history of school establishment and consolidation

        • WSSDA announcing 2023 boards of distinction, including BSD, ISD, LWSD on the eastside. 

        • BSD 2023~24 Budget Plan  

        • BSD finance historical data

        • Demographer reports from BSD 

        • Washington State Office of Finance Management article on K-12 enrollment trend

• Other School Districts' Responses

  • In the news for reference: Nov 15, 2023 Seattle superintendent assures no school closures for 2024-25

• Northshore School District Budget Study Session on Nov 13, 2023. Please take time to go through this budget study session conducted by NSD. It is time well spend for you!

• • Birthrate data (Overlake and Evergreen)

  • WA state private school enrollment data

  • 17-Aug BSD Board Meeting Brief Discussion on Middle School Closure (listed at BSD website)

  • News/Petitions about school closure: 

    • 🔔 King5 news (Nov-10 2023 ) bellevue-school-district-faces-budge-deficits-possible-school-closures 

    • KomoNews: Bellevue School District considers middle school consolidation (See the comments)

    • Jan-2023 Petition against BSD elementary school closure

    • SeattleTimes: Bellevue families ‘angry, still bitter’ over school consolidations

    • King5: Bellevue School Board votes to close 2 elementary schools under consolidation plan

    • MyNorthwest: Bellevue School Board voted in favor of closing two schools

    • KomoNews：Despite tears from board members, Bellevue School District votes to close 2 schools