As Battle Ground Public Schools prepares to cut $20 million from its budget for the 2026-27 school year, community members are sending a clear message to district leaders: protect what matters most to students, even if it means spreading reductions across the system.
The Board of Directors heard a summary of that feedback Monday, March 23, as Superintendent Shelly Whitten presented input gathered from hundreds of community members through meetings, surveys and an online budget tool.
The looming cuts follow the failure of a third attempt to replace education programs and operations levies. After voters rejected two levies last year, the district cut $13 million, eliminating middle school sports, instructional coaches and teacher librarians, among other reductions. A third levy failure in February now leaves the district searching for an additional $20 million in savings. The district will have one more opportunity to place a levy before voters later this year, though, at a minimum, some reductions will affect the start of the 2026-27 school year. The district is required to approve a 2026-27 budget by April 27.
Battle Ground Public Schools serves about 13,000 students across 19 schools, and roughly 85% of its budget is tied to staffing. District leaders say they have faced a $66.72 million gap between state funding and actual costs from 2021 to 2025.
To gather input, the district hosted in-person listening sessions at Battle Ground High School and Prairie High School, drawing 207 participants. Another 1,058 people contributed through an online survey, while 223 submitted responses through a budget-balancing tool. District officials clarified that individual comments were summarized into themes and were not reviewed individually by board members.
Across all three methods, participants consistently prioritized student safety, core academic instruction and services for vulnerable students. Many emphasized preserving staff who work directly with students, such as teachers, counselors and nurses.
The most commonly suggested areas for reductions were administrator and central office positions, along with operational changes such as transportation adjustments and program restructuring. Technology spending and extracurricular programs were also frequently mentioned as possible areas for cuts, though opinions varied widely.
The feedback indicated a preference for budget reductions to be distributed across the entire school district rather than focusing cuts on specific programs vital to students, according to Whitten.
“We’re gonna do our best, and we’ll communicate everything that we’ve had, but I will tell you, we’re struggling,” Whitten said. “We are definitely in a place where we prefer making multiple small cuts versus large ones… and from the input that we received too, about ‘Try not to cut an entire program, especially the ones that are making a huge difference for our students,’ and so that is what we’re trying to do, is make reductions without complete elimination.”
She added that while some ideas surfaced repeatedly, not all are feasible due to state law or timing constraints, including proposals for a four-day school week or school consolidations.
“So, making these adjustments, we’re going to make adjustments to almost probably every area of our programming,” Whitten added. “And I think it’s important for us to know that when we make those adjustments, there are things that we will not be considering even though our communities talked about it.”
According to Whitten, consolidating bus routes, a common suggestion for cost-cutting, would lead to even greater costs to the school district if it tried to expand bus routes again. Whitten also underscored the challenge still ahead, noting that district leaders have not yet identified all necessary reductions.
“We’re gonna struggle,” Whitten said. “I will tell you right now, we’ve identified about $16 million, and we’re scratching our heads to figure out where the other ($4 million) is gonna come from. We’re struggling right now to figure that out.”
During public comment, local educator Ryan Anderson urged the board to reject the premise of cutting programs altogether, placing blame on the state for underfunding education.
“We are being told to prepare for rifts, to cut programs, and to gut the very basic education we are legally sworn to provide,” Anderson said. “I am here to tell you: cut nothing. Not one teacher Not one program, not one chair.”
He argued that the state is failing to meet its constitutional obligation to fund public education.
“Budget reduction is not (an) ample provision,” he said. “Managing our own decline is not leadership. It is a surrender of our constitutional rights. We are tired of the shell game where the state steals the loaf and asks us to fight over the crumbs.”
Earlier in the meeting, students also spoke about the potential impact of cuts on the district’s ASPIRE magnet program. The program’s third-grade cohort was cut last school year.
“I can confidently say that the ASPIRE magnet program is way better than my old school,” Umtuch Middle School student Desmond McTear said.
He described both academic and social benefits, including being surrounded by peers at a similar level of learning.
“It’s very stressful for us to be worried about whether the program is going to be cut or not, because basically, all of us only have friends in ASPIRE,” he said.
Community feedback also revealed areas of disagreement, particularly around the balance between maintaining extracurricular programs and focusing strictly on core academics, as well as the value of specialized programs versus traditional models.
District leaders also worked to clarify common misconceptions, including the belief that central administration accounts for only about 5% of the budget and that funds for construction projects cannot be used for operational costs such as salaries or programs.
Looking ahead, district staff will continue refining potential reductions through April 17. A formal resolution is expected to be presented to the board on April 27, followed by staff notifications and potential reductions in force beginning April 28. The displacement process is scheduled to continue through the summer.
Readers can learn more about the school district’s budget feedback at battlegroundps.org/o/bgps/page/budget-cut-feedback/#priorities.
