Enrollment is Up and Our Financial Recovery is Accelerating
- joelingraham
- Nov 2
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 9
Oct 23 2025
Even though the days are getting cloudier and rainy days are back in the forecast, we are excited to share some positive news about increasing enrollment in BSD, an improved financial outlook, a welcomed decision on the middle school consolidation conversation, and ultimately the power of tackling challenges together.
Celebrating Enrollment and Our Growing Community
While birthrates and enrollment are down across Washington, BSD is going against the trend. Our enrollment is up by approximately 200 students compared to last year, with some of our best growth at kindergarten. Kindergarten is back up to 1,200 students, a number we haven’t seen since 2020. In-district student enrollment grew at the elementary level, and non-resident enrollment grew by 300 students from last year, both of which stabilize our district as a whole and allow us to maintain our current level of programs and electives. We are so thankful for our families — in and out of the district — who choose Bellevue for our high-quality educational programming, innovative programs like the Bellevue Discovery Family Partnership Program, wide range of language offerings, and nationally ranked high schools.
Financial Recovery: Our Collective Efforts are Paying Off
Just one year ago, BSD faced a major financial challenge, with our ending fund balance coming in $10 million less than expected — a true “Houston, we have a problem” moment. In July 2025, projections showed a -$4.9 million fund balance for the end of the 2024-2025 school year. Thanks to disciplined spending; teamwork across schools, labor partners, and district departments; and conservative budgeting, our outlook has dramatically improved. We now expect our fund balance to be approximately -$700,000, putting BSD 1.5 years ahead of schedule in meeting our binding conditions. While we celebrate these achievements, we are remaining laser focused on keeping our expenditures within our revenue and restoring our fund balance over the next couple of years.
Middle School Consolidation Update: We will not close a middle school
With stabilized elementary and secondary enrollment, we are excited to inform the community that we are no longer considering closing or consolidating a middle school. We promised the community we would give an update in October of 2025 (which is now) before our final decision in the fall of 2026. We feel confident enough to make the call right now to not close a middle school and hope that this is welcome news. This decision, based on improved enrollment, reflects families’ confidence in our schools, the excellence of our staff, and our commitment to delivering innovative, world-class educational opportunities for all of our students from preschool to graduation.
Gratitude
Last year was a hard year. Making cuts mid-year to school budgets was hard. Administrators and central office staff taking furloughs was hard. Bringing expenditures in line with our revenue for this school year was hard. But, our hard work is paying off. We want to thank our finance and human resources teams for their amazing work in tightening up systems. We want to thank school staff and departments for their hard work to reduce spending and conserve resources. And, we want to thank our families, students and community for hanging in there with us as we strengthen our financial outlook. We’re making remarkable progress because we’re doing it together. Thank you. Dr. Heather Sánchez, Chief Operating Officer Mr. Loren Tillman, Interim Chief Financial Officer
