Snoqualmie Valley School District adopts 2025-26 budget, funds expanded early learning center

The Snoqualmie Valley School District Board of Directors on Aug. 14 unanimously adopted the district’s 2025-26 budget, approving appropriation levels the district will submit to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

District staff presented the budget at a public hearing before the vote. "On the bottom line, I'll just say that the budget went farther away from balance when we showed in July," Ryan Stokes, a district staff member who presented the plan, told the board. Stokes said the primary increases since the July review were added capacity for a districtwide elementary English language arts curriculum adoption and additional budget capacity to cover rising special-education costs.

The budget package approved by the board increases personnel in several areas, Stokes said, including more certificated and classified positions to staff the newly opened Early Learning Center (ELC), additional supervision at elementary schools (elementary deans), a safety associate director, and transportation hires including a transportation technician and more bus drivers. The ELC expansion will raise preschool capacity: Stokes said the district will move from five…