About 100 Blaine High School students walked out of their second period classes on March 19 and marched across Mitchell Avenue to the Blaine school district administration offices to protest the possibility of cuts to next year’s theater and band programs.
The cuts – which will need to total $2.5-3 million for the district to balance its budget – will be formally announced at the next school board meeting on Monday, March 24. It will be the district’s third consecutive reduced education plan.
Students in the theater arts and band programs said their teachers have informed them of the proposed cuts that would no longer support a theater director, and consolidate the band program into a single band, getting rid of specific bands like wind ensemble.
Many of the upperclassmen students protesting the possible cuts on Wednesday were walking out for the second time in their high school tenures. Students walked out on April 24, 2023 to protest staff cuts that eliminated 65 positions from the district, 38 of which were teachers.
Riley Osburn, a junior who’s performed in multiple roles for the Blaine High School theater arts program, said he participated in the walkout to not only support his program, but to show district administration how much these cuts matter to the student body.
“We’re here to raise awareness, but also we want to save our program,” Osburn said. “These things really, really matter to us and we want them to stick around.”
To cut costs, the district also proposed a merger of first and second grade classes from the primary school to the elementary school to save roughly $600,000, according to the district. But that still won’t cover the multi-million dollar funding gap caused by a lack of state and federal funding, the ending of pandemic-era emergency funding, and dwindling enrollment in the district.
According to district data, staff salaries make up roughly 85 percent of the school district’s budget, meaning any method to saving $3 million would almost assuredly include staff cuts.
Last year’s budget cut saved the district $2.5 million, cutting 30 staff positions across the district including a K-5 principal and special education staff.
The school funding issue is not just impacting Blaine. School districts around the state are struggling to balance their budgets, which is legally required for school districts to avoid binding conditions, which would mean the state superintendent take control of financial decisions.
Mt. Baker school district has been in binding conditions since the 2023-24 school year, and joined Blaine along with Ferndale school district for a town hall community meeting with 42nd District state representatives to ask for increased funding from Olympia.
Whether more money is coming from the state remains to be seen, but there are multiple bills making their way through the state capitol that could alleviate some financial woes. Senate Bill 5168, which would lower the supermajority requirement to pass a school bond from 60 percent to 55 percent, passed the Senate and is currently in committee in the House. Blaine school district brought a $70 million bond proposal to fund significant upgrades to Blaine middle school, the Performing Arts Center and Pipeline Fields, to the ballot, but failed in the November 2024 election with 55.9 percent approval.
The next Blaine school board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, March 24 at the district boardroom, 770 Mitchell Avenue.
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