Mercer Island School District Released the 2015-2016 Budget Proposal

At the August 18 School Board meeting, the School District presented the 2015-2016 District Budget.

As far as sate funding goes, MISD ended up in fairly good shape after the long and arduous Legislative Session. In addition, our fabulous community once again came together with the 2015 Bridge Campaign and over 55% of district families contributed to our efforts to help fully fund our district’s goal to provide outstanding educational programs to our students. At the end of the Bridge Campaign, we did fall short of our lofty goal, however, the following quote is from the School Board’s presentation documents:

“With respect to state-level funding, the environment continues to stabilize and the state is beginning to address the under-funding of education in the State of Washington. We expect major changes in the coming four (4) to six (6) years. Some of these enhancements will include lower class sizes at the primary level, with the state assuming a larger responsibility for the funding of salaries, and reducing local levy lid authority for Mercer Island School District. The State did begin funding lower class sizes at the primary level during the special session that concluded in June, 2015. The changes were very minor, but did make up for the shortfall in funding from the Bridge 2015 Campaign. In the adopted budget the legislature also provided a 3.0% salary increase for staff.”

So in the end, between our private donations and advocacy efforts; contacting our legislators calling for support of our schools, we begin the 2015-2016 school year in good financial shape! Thank you, everyone, for all your support!

For more information about our Mercer Island School District Budget, Click here for a link to the Guide to Understanding the 2015-2016 Budget.