Bellevue School Board approves $20M–$24M spending-reduction plan to shore up district fund balance

The Bellevue School District Board of Directors voted 5-0 on March 13 to approve Superintendent Kelly Aramaki’s spending-reduction plan, a set of measures intended to avert a projected negative year-end fund balance and restore the district’s savings.

The board’s unanimous roll-call vote came after Aramaki and senior staff laid out a multi-month community engagement process and multiple scenarios that would reduce next year’s operating expenditures by an estimated $20 million to $24 million.

District leaders said the cuts respond to declining ending fund balances, the end of federal COVID-era ESSER funding, rising operating costs and limited state revenue. Aramaki described the district as “in a pretty dire budget situation,” citing a multi-year erosion of savings that, without action, would leave the district unable to guarantee payroll and other obligations.

The plan uses a mix of central-office reductions, changes to ESSER-funded positions and school-based staffing adjustments. Superintendent Aramaki told the board the proposal’s components include central-office savings of roughly $6.1 million to $6.8 million, reductions to ESSER-funded investments of about $3.2 million to $3.5 million, and school-based reductions in the range of $10.4 million to $13.8 million, for total projected savings of $20 million to $24 million.

Specifics discussed by staff and directors: - Central office: a cut at the high end of the previously proposed range for cabinet and director-level positions (7–8 positions targeted). - ESSER-funded positions: preservation of five mental-health counselors while cutting an estimated net 14.5 ESSER-funded counselor FTEs overall; family engagement specialists reduced from 10 to 6. - School-based staffing: reductions to assistant-principal allocations primarily at elementary schools with fewer than 700 students (with exceptions, including maintaining a full-time assistant principal at Tillicum Middle School); the proposal notes about 14 assistant-principal reductions at the elementary level. - Transportation: bell-time adjustments intended to yield roughly $200,000 in fuel savings.

Aramaki emphasized what the plan protects: the district will keep the seven-period day and elective offerings, AB/AP/IB classes, advanced-learning services, career and technical education, language and choice-school programs, elementary specialists (library, art, music, PE) and elementary counselors. Nursing positions were also retained in the revised plan.

Aramaki told the board the district’s restoration priorities, should the Legislature provide new funding, would be (1) restoring the ending fund balance (he said getting back to at least $20 million is essential so the district can pay bills), (2) school-based staffing and classrooms, (3) student behavior and mental-health supports, (4) strategic-plan investments and (5) operations.

Board members repeatedly framed the cuts as driven by state funding shortfalls and structural constraints: Aramaki and directors noted that not all local property-tax dollars return to Bellevue, that capital and bond funds are restricted to facilities and cannot be used for operating costs, and that the state’s prototypical funding model underfunds several categories (special education, mental-health supports and some administrative positions).

Aramaki and other speakers highlighted two state bills the district is tracking that could affect Bellevue’s finances if enacted as passed in the Senate: Senate Bill 5,263 (identified in the meeting as a special-education bill the superintendent said would bring roughly $5 million annually) and Senate Bill 5,192 (described as funding for materials, supplies and operations that could deliver about $2.5 million). Together the superintendent and public commenters estimated those measures could bring roughly $7.5 million to the district if they pass the House and are signed by the governor; district staff and the board urged community advocacy for the measures.

During discussion board members pressed for regular reporting on how cuts affect students and staff and asked staff to return with details about how the reductions will be implemented and which specific positions will be affected. Directors also expressed concern about the human toll of layoffs and workload increases: the superintendent acknowledged the plan could affect roughly 150 jobs, noting each position represents a person and a family.

A roll-call vote followed a period for limited director discussion. The board recorded the following votes: Director Block — yes; President Carolyn Watson — yes; Director Rogan — yes; Director Webster — yes; Director Arras — yes. The motion passed 5-0.

Board members said the plan reflected revisions made after public feedback, including restoring some school-based mental-health capacity and family-engagement staff. Aramaki said the district developed the plan in two phases (community input in January; feedback and revision in February) and then refined it again in the days before the March 13 meeting.

In closing remarks during the director discussion period, Director Rogan announced plans to step down from the board in the coming weeks; he said the timing felt appropriate after the board approved the spending-reduction plan. The board did not take further action related to that announcement at the meeting.

What happens next: the board directed staff to return with a revised organizational chart and implementation details after spring break, to share timelines for layoffs or reassignments, and to provide periodic updates to the board on the effects of reductions and on outreach to community partners and legislators.

Votes at a glance The board approved the superintendent’s spending-reduction plan to reduce operating expenditures by an estimated $20,000,000 to $24,000,000 for fiscal 2025–26. Roll-call vote: 5–0 (Block, Watson, Rogan, Webster, Arras — yes).