School Board Recap: June 9, 2026

The Issaquah School Board held a regular meeting on Tuesday, June 9, at the Issaquah School District Administration Building. The meeting was open to the public and broadcast live on the district’s YouTube channel, where a recording of the meeting is available. This recap highlights selected topics of discussion and board actions. It is not an official record of the meeting. Official minutes can be found on the district’s board meeting archive webpage, and additional information about future meetings is available on the School Board page.

 

Works in Progress

Superintendent Heather Tow-Yick shared highlights of programs and activities from around the district, including:

• District, community, heritage and cultural events for the month of June.
• Tow-Yick said she was looking forward to the graduation and transition celebrations for the ACT program; Skyline, Liberty, Issaquah and Gibson Ek high schools.
• District retirees were thanked and celebrated for their service during a reception; employees who retired had between several years and more than 40 years of service in the district. Retirees’ family members, friends and former coworkers joined them at the district administration building to help honor them for their time and dedication teaching and serving ISD students.
• The district PTSA Council hosted its first Bridges of Belonging reception for students who worked on projects related to inclusion, empathy and belonging across the district. Tow-Yick thanked PTSA leaders for their work on this project and recognition for students.
• The Communications Team recently earned six awards from the National School Public Relations Association, including a golden achievement award for the informational levy facts campaign, an award for the FOCUS newsletter, several video awards, a podcast award and an award for the district’s Annual Budget Guide.

 

Update on 2026-27 Budget

Chief of Finance and Operations Martin Turney and Moriah Banasick, Executive Director of Finance and Budget, shared an update about the budget process in preparation for the August budget hearing.

“Issaquah School District continues to demonstrate strong financial stewardship while also navigating increasing financial pressures,” Turney said. “We continue to see positive indicators, including a clean audit, expected bond refunding savings, and recent levy approvals, along with our continued commitment to deliver on the programs and services these levies are intended to support.”

At the same time, Turney noted the district continues its work to provide transparency, and to respond to enrollment-driven revenue changes, ongoing state funding gaps, and rising operating costs.

Banasick shared additional information about the audit, which covered accountability, financial statement audit, federal compliance audit, including child nutrition and special education, and more.

District staff expect to complete the refinancing of the 2016 bonds this month. This process is expected to result in about $18.6 million in taxpayer savings. Contributing factors to this process include strong financial stewardship and management practices, strong credit ratings from Moody’s and S&P, and participation in the Washington State School District Credit Enhancement Program.

Banasick thanked the community for approval of the renewal of the district’s Educational Programs and Operations; Critical Repairs and Technology; and Transportation levies. She highlighted considerations in enrollment forecasting, including declining King County birth rates, housing affordability, and regional layoffs and economic uncertainty. The district is using a conservative approach to 2026-27 forecasting, and is estimating a decrease in kindergarten enrollment.

Washington state ranks 40th in the nation in investment in K-12 education as a percentage of the state’s total economy. Among the areas that are underfunded are Special Education; Materials, Supplies and Operating Costs (MSOC); and Transportation, which are collectively underfunded by about $800 million across the state. In our district, these factors meant that we were underfunded by more than $19.4 million in the 2024-25 school year. During the most recent legislative session, lawmakers reduced ISD’s Transition to Kindergarten funding by about 70%.

Banasick and the Finance team are projecting a deficit of about $12.5 million for the 2025-26 operating budget. Some of the contributing factors include increases to Materials, Supplies and Operating Costs (MSOC), utility and fuel costs, insurance increases, and meeting bargained and board approved overload pay. Highlighting some of the investments that the district has made in the past two years, Banasick mentioned key academic initiatives and major curriculum adoptions; expanded student supports such as counseling, behavior, teachers on special assignment, assistant principals, early learning and special education; expanded learning opportunities such as dual language Spanish in middle school, additional advanced placement offerings and Career and Technical Education pathways such as Aerospace manufacturing; and family supports including expanded Before and After School Care, preschool academy, summer camps in preschool and middle school, and community resource fairs.

All of these factors contribute to the need for budget alignment in order to better match our staffing and expenditures to our enrollment and student needs, in addition to preserving our long-term financial sustainability, Banasick said. The district reduced administrators and operations by 6.35%, and school-based staffing by 4.24%; additionally, the district made non-staffing adjustments of $15.8 million.

The Issaquah School District is maintaining class size ratios; adjusted staffing primarily through attrition, retirements, resignations and restructuring; preserved important student supports and strategic investments; did not make major structural changes; and is investing in dual language Mandarin at preschool, Transition to Kindergarten, Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports, and future innovation.

The district’s FACT (Financial Analysis Core Team) group, which includes parents/guardians, staff, community members and students, will meet again in July. District staff will present the 2026-27 budget and Annual Budget Guide to the board, then the board will host a public hearing about the proposed budget before taking action to adopt the final budget in August.

 

Operational Expectation 12.1 and 12.2 Update Regarding Grading and Homework

Assistant Superintendent Jacqueline Downey and Executive Director of Teaching and Learning Services Rich Mellish shared an update about the implementation plan for Operational Expectation 12, Learning Environment.

Feedback and engagement from students, families and community was gathered during listening sessions, student surveys, two board retreat sessions, student leadership groups and direct feedback from students and families. Additionally, the Grading Practices Advisory Committee met six times this year; the committee is a collaborative group including certificated teachers, school leaders and district staff. Committee members examined and worked to strengthen grading practices and resolve grading inconsistencies.

Homework guidelines were drafted based on research and workshopped through principal meetings and high school teacher department meetings.

For the fall of 2026, changes include:

• Defined common assessment practices across the district that are aligned with Universal Design for Learning and the Danielson Framework to guide instruction, supervision and professional learning.
• Calibrated and aligned grading practices for AP Calculus AB across the district.
• Common AP/IB grade bump policies for common courses across the district.
• Common grading practices for all common courses within a school (already the expectation), now supported by progress monitoring professional learning for principals in August.
• Common expectations for homework load and purpose are included in district course catalog and by common course syllabi at each school.

Additional goals for 2027-28 include continued engagement with students, families and teachers to identify current strengths and challenges, guide improvements to grading and homework expectations and practice with short-, mid- and long-term benchmarks; review and determine any changes to the district’s grading scale; and additional districtwide grading alignment by common courses.

 

Monitoring Report for Results 1, Mission Statement

Staff presented the monitoring report for Results 1 for the 2024-25 school year. Marcel Hauser, Senior Advisor and Strategy, shared about the Strategic Plan and staff members’ work throughout the district to use the priorities and goals of the Strategic Plan to help the district in its work toward the district mission. Hauser shared lessons learned, system health indicators (what the district tracks in Results 1), celebrations from the three-year Strategic Plan.

Board members asked questions, offered feedback, and voted unanimously to approve the monitoring report.

 

Second Reading of the Refreshed Strategic Plan

Superintendent Tow-Yick and Hauser shared a presentation about the refreshed Strategic Plan, which the board members heard in a first reading during the May 28 board meeting. Board members asked a few questions and offered feedback, then voted to approve the resolution in support of the refreshed Strategic Plan. This plan will be in place for the 2026-27; the 2027-28; and the 2028-29 school years.