Mercer Island board answers parents and students on budget pressures, enrollment and advanced math

At a Mercer Island School District community Q&A, board leaders and Superintendent Dr. Rundle addressed questions about a tight budget, declining enrollment and how the district is handling demand for advanced math courses.

Parents and students pressed the district on short-term budget choices and long-term financial goals. "In April 2022 we took an interfund loan from the capital tech levy to get us through the year," Dr. Rundle said, adding the district repaid the $2,000,000 loan within a year while working to rebuild reserves.

Why it matters: Falling enrollment reduces state revenue while operating costs rise, forcing the district to weigh classroom programming against fixed expenses such as employee benefits. Board President Stephanie Burnett told attendees the board maintains a policy target of an 8% fund balance and favors incrementally rebuilding toward 10% over several years.

Details and trade-offs: Rundle described strategies to limit cuts near classrooms — for example, replacing some classroom printers with shared copiers and sunsetting underused software — while using open enrollment to soften the decline in student counts. He estimated about 500 children in the 98040 ZIP code attend other schools and said the district is increasing outreach, offering more school tours and coordinating with school foundations and private donors to fund small sections where possible.

Students and parents raised a separate but related issue: advanced-course access. A high-school sophomore said roughly 40 students hoped to take Calculus BC next year but had been told only one section might run. Rundle explained collective-bargaining caps (33 students per class) and the cost of opening another section — about $30,000 — which creates a choice between preserving elective programs and adding an advanced section. "If we open that other section, where's that $30,000 that we can't spend somewhere else?" he said.

The district said it is using scheduling conflict matrices to monitor enrollments (numbers often fall slightly as families choose other classes) and that an early-June budget study session will review proposed changes line by line. The board and district committed to returning with more detailed information during that study session.