A Priorities Issue, Not a Budget One

Comparing the 2025-26 budget to 2024-25, transportation, the cost the district cites as the binding constraint, received the smallest increase of any major category: $0.9 million, about 5%. Central Administration grew by $5.1 million, nearly 23%. One HR budget line alone grew by $4.8 million, an increase of 782%, with no real explanation of what changed! In the same year that transportation was called unaffordable, the district found millions for administrative growth.

The community's three-tier alternative, no elementary school before 9 AM, no new buses, costs an estimated $90,000 a year. See how the numbers work → That's a fraction of a single administrative budget line that grew without explanation this year. The district has the money. What it hasn't shown is the will to spend it here.

The current proposal creates hidden costs of its own that don't show up in a transportation budget line. Modeling estimates the district's plan carries roughly $1.6 million a year in downstream financial risk compared to the three-tier alternative, combining lost per-pupil revenue if families leave the district over the schedule change, plus the potential cost if the district ever has to respond to the childcare gap it creates. While an estimate and not a guarantee, this shows that the "cheaper" option may not be cheaper at all.

At roughly $12,500 in per-student revenue, it would take just 8 students leaving the district for the district's proposed schedule to cost more than the community's alternative. This isn't a hypothetical risk: ESD's enrollment is already declining.

Roughly 1,485 low-income students at the affected schools have parents who can't accommodate a 1:50 PM pickup. Most after-school programs don't offer a short 1:50-3:50 PM slot, families would have to pay for full-day coverage they don't need. If the district ultimately funds supplemental care to address this, likely under pressure to address the equity impact, that's a cost the district would be creating for itself, not one it's avoiding by choosing this schedule.

Shoreline starts elementary at 8:50-9:15 AM. Bellevue: 8:00-9:05 AM. Lake Washington: 8:40-9:20 AM. The community's three-tier alternative would start at 9:00 AM. The district's actual proposal: 7:20 AM, earlier than every comparable district in the region, and earlier than any elementary school currently operating in Washington State.