Multiple Snohomish County school districts face massive budget cuts entering the 2024-25 school year, including Northshore, Edmonds, Mukilteo, and Marysville. These budget cuts follow a trend of Washington schools struggling to balance their budgets amidst drops in enrollment and the nearing end of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds—monies earmarked under the American Rescue Plan.

At the beginning of 2024, Washington had spent over 74% of its allocated ESSER funding, more than any other state. Meanwhile, local districts have begun to slash their budgets.

Northshore School District plans to cut the 2024-25 general fund by $26 million. Edmonds School District plans to cut $10.6 million. Mukilteo plans a further $9.8 million cut after its $24 million reduction last year.

Some districts have resorted to a more drastic solution—closing schools. Marysville School District, currently in a $1.26 million deficit (which they got down from $17.5 million), recently proposed closing three schools in the 2025-26 school year—Cascade Elementary, Liberty Elementary, and Totem Middle School—for an estimated savings of $2,749,811. The Marysville school board will make its final decision on the proposal in March 2025. 

“It is far-fetched and disingenuous to say that current budget challenges are due to anything other than a volatile financial landscape impacting schools and school districts across the state and nation,” said Marysville Superintendent Zachary Robbins, who took the position June 1, 2022.

At the start of the 2023-24 school year, Marysville entered into binding conditions with the OSPI when the district was unable to balance the budget. 

Why is this happening?

As soon as ESSER funds became available, school districts began to push the money into their General Fund budget, even though ESSER funds were designed to temporarily cover costs associated with COVID-19 learning loss. As schools hired more teachers and added more programs, yearly expenses went up.

In 2017-18, Washington expenditures came to roughly $12,800 per student. This last school year, expenditures reached $18,286 per student. That is a 42% increase over six years. 

Schools also saw an uptick in levy funding after the pandemic, as voters seemed to support additional funding to recover learning loss and for capital projects. Those funds were added to the per/student expenditures. 

But recently more and more levies have been shot down, and ESSER funding expires September 30. Washington schools have also seen a dramatic drop in enrollment in the last three years. With fewer students enrolled, school districts receive less state funding. 

What this means for students

Nearly all local districts are experiencing some form of layoffs. Marysville plans to cut 34 full-time positions this year after having already cut 132 full-time positions in the previous year. The other districts plan dozens of layoffs across all positions, including teachers, administrators, coaches, and paraeducators. 

“Due to the fact that 85.5% of our current budget expenditures is staffing, to balance our budget we must eliminate or reduce some positions and programs,” said Northshore Superintendent Michael Tolley.

Layoffs affect the programs a school can offer. The first programs that get reduced in most school districts include sports, band, special education, pre-K, etc. 

But more importantly, layoffs lead to larger classes, which will be a major blow to student success. School closures and consolidation will have the same effect. 

A famous 1980s Tennessee study found that students in a class of 13 to 17 performed better over time than those in classes of 22 to 25 students. They also found large classes affected minority children more adversely. 

In one survey, 90% of teachers agreed that smaller classes can have a “strong” or “very strong” impact on student achievement.

“People talk about ‘silver bullets’ in education, but the only thing that we know works is “small class size,” one teacher told the NEA.

One thing that is unlikely to change is the free lunch programs. House Bill 1238 (HB 1238) requires schools to provide free meals if at least 30% of students are eligible.

That means if students received a free meal last year, they will likely receive a free meal next year. You can see if your school is providing free meals on the OSPI website. 

It’s clear what school officials want—more state funding. District leaders do not want to rely on uncertain grants and levies to cover their costs. But Washington state spends more per student than the national average. 

In 2022-23, Washington spent $18,286, compared to the national average of $15,633 in the same year. Comparatively, Washington students stand 35th in the nation for SAT scores and 49th for number of students per teacher. 

And despite spending going up, students are performing worse each year. In 2022-23, only 39.1% of students hit proficiency, compared to 49.5% in 2017-18. The same trend is occurring in English Language Arts and Science.