Blaine school board met for its April 28 meeting just one day after the Washington state legislature approved a $77.1 billion 2025-27 biennium budget, allocating $2.46 billion for K-12 education.
That multi-billion dollar expenditure for public education represents 43.2 percent of the state operating budget, down slightly from last cycle’s 43.4 percent of the budget, and still below the high water mark of above 50 percent of the budget that public education funding reached in 2018, according to data from the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).
If the budget remains as is after Governor Bob Ferguson goes through “line by line” as he said on April 27, crucial programs will be preserved in the Blaine school district, keeping jobs that were originally slated to be cut in last month’s reduced education plan.
Transition to Kindergarten, a program funded through the state that prepares pre-K students for their first years at Blaine Primary School, will remain funded at its current level. That will allow three teaching positions and four para-educator positions to be kept on staff that were originally slated to be cut.
In an update on the reduced education plan from superintendent Christopher Granger during the board meeting, staff cuts represent a 38 percent reduction in administrative staff, five percent reduction in classified staff, two percent reduction in teaching staff, and 12 percent reduction in athletic expenditures.
The state budget also provided more special education funding, a specific ask from school districts and parents across the state, and a slight bump in materials, supply and operating cost (MSOC) funds.
State-funded MSOC funds increased to $35.27 per student, allocating an additional $70,000 to the Blaine school district.
Granger said that increase still doesn’t catch up to the drastically increasing price tag for MSOC, with insurance for the district going up $95,000.
“MSOC investments by the state won’t even offset the increase in cost for the insurability of the district,” Granger told the board.
One major blow to the district with the new budget is the removal of OSPI grants, which helped keep costs down for Associated Student Body and extracurricular activities. It also removed specific grants for homeless student support, ninth grade success and outdoor learning.
Board searching for
interim superintendent
The Blaine school board held a special meeting on April 21 to review, in executive session, applicants for the district’s open superintendent position. No decision was made on a specific candidate, but the board announced it is looking to name an interim superintendent for the 2025-26 school year while it continues to search for a replacement.
Granger accepted a position as superintendent of the Sultan school district in March, and will leave the district at the end of this school year.
“Once the interim superintendent is selected, the board will begin the process of reviewing the parameters for the permanent search,” Granger wrote in an April 21 statement. “School and community stakeholders will have opportunities to provide input throughout the process over the next year.”
