A Message from Superintendent Greg Baker

Dear staff, students, families and community members,

I want to share an update related to our declining enrollment, ongoing budget challenges and future plans for schools and facilities. 

We know how important our schools are in our neighborhoods and community, and we also know there are no shortcuts or easy solutions when state funding isn’t keeping pace with school district expenses and fewer students are enrolling now and in the future due to cost-of-living challenges and declining birth rates.
 

The plan for 2027-28

We are planning to close and repurpose Columbia and Carl Cozier elementary schools after this school year, pending school board approval. This is in alignment with one of the recommendations from the recent facilities planning task force.

Starting August 2027, current Carl Cozier students will attend Sunnyland and Wade King elementary schools and current Columbia students will attend Alderwood Elementary School. You can see maps of the new school boundaries, which were developed with input from the facilities planning task force and further staff analysis.

School and district staff will be intentional and caring as they prepare to transition students to new schools and offer opportunities for open houses and meetings well ahead of the 2027-28 school year.  We know change can be hard – and it can also provide new opportunities and friendships.

The receiving schools have capacity now and into the future as student populations decline and fluctuate. Columbia’s low enrollment allows us to keep its current students together in a move to a new school. Because Cozier has a larger enrollment, splitting its students between two schools made more sense.

All three of these schools, Sunnyland, Wade King and Alderwood, are newer and were built with modern needs in mind, including accessibility and safety. 

I encourage you to watch this video that gives context.
 

 

This proposal saves approximately $2.2 million, which helps us maintain and stabilize current staff and programs for all students in our district in all schools. This budget-saving strategy is one component among many cost-saving decisions we have made to address our budget challenges.

You can see our analysis for each school.
 

Our decision-making process and timeline

• In February, we brought together a facilities planning task force to review and analyze demographic data, including declining enrollment projections, and develop recommendations for an elementary facilities master plan, among other tasks.
• Resources, data, frequently asked questions, videos and regular communications were shared and posted in response to community interest and questions. The district also held several public meetings and asked for feedback via an input form, met with stakeholders and answered questions.
• Consolidating these two schools was part of the facilities planning task force recommendation shared in May 2026.
• We asked for and received additional feedback through in-person meetings with community members and parents and online input between May to September. In addition to receiving feedback, meeting with stakeholders and answering questions, we have been engaged in planning and researching next steps, seeking advice and best practices for making decisions like school consolidation, and preparing this announcement and additional resources for staff and community.
• I am accepting the task force's recommendation to close two schools.

I am recommending closure of Columbia and Carl Cozier to the school board, which has the final decision-making authority. It will hold a formal public hearing for each school at which members of the community can provide direct input to the school board via public comment.

Analyses on the effects of both school consolidations will accompany the recommendation. We will continue to refine our plans as we move forward.

 

The data: why we are proposing this

The reality is that no one wants to close schools. There are two major factors affecting this decision.

• Budget cuts: We’ve experienced four years of districtwide budget cuts due to inadequate funding from the state. We have made cuts since 2023 affecting every part of our district, so we needed to examine any and all solutions to maintain important programs and staff and stay solvent with fewer students.
• Declining enrollment: Data and projections from 2018 to 2028 show a loss of about 1,000 elementary students across 14 elementary schools. This is a decline of 20% of our elementary student population, which is significant. We currently have many schools operating with empty classrooms. Enrollment compounds the state funding issue because we are funded by the state based on the number of students enrolled.

When we compare enrollment numbers of our 14 elementary schools with those in our region, we are well below the average. And even if we close two of these schools, we will still be a district of small neighborhood elementary schools. See data and graphs.

This plan reflects the recommendations that came from the facilities planning task force. That group of staff, parents, leaders and community members recommended closing two schools after reviewing declining enrollment projections, facility conditions, especially of our oldest schools, and the current budget challenges facing our district and those across the state.

We have engaged with people across our community, and we have heard the immense pride and love our communities have for their schools as well as the frustration and sadness that comes with this difficult conversation around consolidating schools.

We have heard from others that given the challenging landscape – between lower enrollments and less funding for education from the state – they understand that with fewer students, we need to look for efficiencies … and that means making hard decisions to maintain important programs across our district in service of all students.

Initial indications for birth rate, enrollment projections and future state funding are not promising.

Thank you to those of you who have shared your ideas and asked questions over the past eight months. Here is one way to provide feedback and look for additional input opportunities.

Transparency is a priority for us. We have many resources available on our website, including financial analyses and attendance area maps - please review this webpage if you want to learn more.
 

Keeping BPS accountable: changing course after the 2022 bond

We understand consolidating schools is contrary to earlier plans to rebuild our oldest schools. Our 2022 bond earmarked funds to start the planning process for Roosevelt, Carl Cozier and Columbia. We had originally planned to ask voters to consider a future bond/bonds that would have included dollars to provide construction services to rebuild these schools.

As caretakers of our district, we do not believe it’s responsible to keep all these schools open when enrollment is declining and we have modern and accessible schools nearby with open classrooms.

We acknowledge that a change of plans can be frustrating or confusing. We do not take our community’s support in levies or bonds for granted, and we have shared updates and opportunities for feedback throughout this process.

For reference, in 2021, as we were planning our 2022 bond, we were seeing a small increase in enrollment post-pandemic. After 100 years of growth, it appeared we would continue on this trajectory. New projections show a continued enrollment decline through 2036. We believe it’s responsible for us to change course – not continue on the same path when the data show the landscape has changed.

It does not make sense to rebuild our oldest schools in need of repair at a time when enrollment is contracting.

We believe it’s prudent to utilize our nearby schools that are newer and can provide improved safety measures, ADA accessibility, comfortable temperatures and efficient systems.  Not rebuilding our oldest schools at this time also saves our district and community money.

We are grateful to our community for its support and investment of past bonds to rebuild other elementary schools, including Alderwood and Sunnyland, which were built thanks to voter support of our 2018 bond. Wade King Elementary was built in 2008. (A reminder that bonds are limited funds that we can only use for rebuilding or construction costs, not staff or programs for the classroom.)

Our current thinking is that Columbia and Carl Cozier would remain district property so that if enrollment changes in the future, the district can adjust plans.

A note about Roosevelt Elementary: the facilities planning task force recommended using remaining funds from the 2022 bond in addition to dollars from a future bond to rebuild Roosevelt. We have been working with an architect on plans and with the city on permitting, but in the midst of declining enrollment, we don’t feel it’s the right time to run a bond in the near future. We need to do more work on this topic, and we will be engaging the Roosevelt community about possible next steps.

We are committed to providing timely, accurate information to our community and welcome questions, comments and feedback on decisions made in the past or present.

Next steps

Staff and families at Carl Cozier, Columbia, Alderwood, Sunnyland and Wade King will hear more soon about transition planning. We will also be sharing information with Birchwood staff and families as their school boundary is slightly affected by the expansion of the Alderwood boundary to include Columbia.

We will provide care and support for students and families through this process. You can see talking points parents/guardians can use to help your child prepare for this change.

Please see our webpage that has resources, data and additional facts that may be helpful in answering questions.

I know these are challenging times. Our way forward as a community requires lots of hard work and conversations - together we can achieve more.

Please reach out to your school’s principal or me if you have questions or share thoughts via this form.

Greg Baker

Reply to: greg.baker@bellinghamschools.org