BELLEVUE, Wash. — Bellevue students are headed back to classes on Wednesday!
This is coming after the district fought major budget issues for the past two years, built a new school, added dual-language programs, and made major cuts.
Superintendent Dr. Kelly Aramaki said a lot went into getting to this day, but they are proud of the work done.
With almost 20 thousand kids heading into classrooms, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Heather Sanchez said say they hope to see more added to that roster soon.
“Our enrollment is stable; we are very, very fortunate that it is stable and just growing a tinge,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said the enrollment is growing for lots of reasons, including their attempt of adding programs to draw in families from other cities.
Aramaki said the Bellevue School District allows students who live in other cities to enroll in BPS.
“In the last three years we’ve added the only public-school Arabic program in the state of Washington, we also have Korean, last year we added Japanese, those are at the elementary level,” Aramaki said.
Aramaki tells us their biggest accomplishment is starting the year with a balanced budget after two years of cuts.
“Last year was a very hard year, class sizes went up, there was a lot less support for people, but all of that hard work has paid off,” Aramaki said.
He said in 2024 they realized the reserve fund was exhausted and they were ending the year around 10 million dollars short.
The district was put into binding conditions with the state until a balanced budget could be reached.
They are still in binding conditions until at least October when the budget year ends. Aramaki said they are hoping to get out of the agreement then
Also adding to the excitement is the new Bellevue Big Picture School opening today. Officials say it focuses on real-world learning experiences that are relevant to what kids will need to work and live successfully in the future.
“Kids get to guide their own learning, then they have internships in companies and community organizations during the school day,” Aramaki said.
Officials say first through 12th graders start school Wednesday, while kindergarten goes back next week.
The superintendent said their main goal for the next few years is to keep the budget and student enrollment numbers stable.