Highline board sees steady enrollment, $7 million preliminary shortfall for 2025–26 as legislature decides funding

Highline School District on Wednesday, March 5, held a budget work session in which district finance leaders reported year-to-date enrollment above projection, a likely retention of this year’s 7% unassigned fund balance, and an initial forecast showing about a $7 million shortfall for the 2025–26 school year if no new state revenue arrives.

Jackie Bridal, chief financial officer, told the board that current-year enrollment came in higher than projected and that “we think right now, we're gonna actually come in almost exactly even,” meaning the district does not expect to spend the roughly $6 million it had planned to draw from fund balance for 2024–25.

The comment mattered because the district’s initial 2025–26 projection, produced before any new state revenue beyond the inflationary IPD (implicit price deflator), shows expenditures about $7 million higher than projected revenues. Bridal said those initial projections “don't contain any new revenue,” and added, “these numbers will change.”

Why it matters: Highline’s budget outlook depends heavily on the 2025 state legislative session and on the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) for final tools and allocations. District staff said a long legislative session — scheduled to end April 27 — and OSPI’s subsequent two- to…