SK School Board approves $205.5 million budget

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 12, 2025

The South Kitsap School Board approved its $205.5 million budget for the 2025-26 school year and heard from a parent concerned about the safety of her children’s walking route to school at its meeting Aug. 6.

The budget, adopted unanimously, includes $197.5 million for the general fund, $3.48 million for transportation, $3.21 million for capital projects, $261,299 for debt service and $1.07 million for the Associated Student Body fund. It also provides for a $261,300 transfer from the general fund to the debt service fund to pay off a chiller loan.

During public comment, parent Mandy Napier told the board she has been requesting a bus stop for her 5- and 7-year-old children since June, citing safety concerns with their more than one-mile walk to school.

“There isn’t a safe route that my five- and seven-year-olds could take,” Napier said, noting missing sidewalks, blind corners and areas without crosswalks. “I’ve deemed all routes unsafe for my five-year-old, who does not have the attention span needed to walk 27 minutes.”

Napier said she sent seven or eight follow-up emails to the district over the past two months but only received an update on Aug.6 that her request is under review, with a decision expected by Aug. 15.

In his superintendent’s report, Tim Winter outlined a five-year vision for the district, including goals to deepen the district’s culture of belonging, grow leadership capacity, strengthen professional learning communities, elevate student achievement, modernize operations and build community pride.

“There’s a sense of urgency that I’m feeling for us to continue to improve and continue to get better to make a difference,” he said. “We need to start putting some action steps into that as well.”

Winter also reminded families that the first day of school is Aug. 26.

“There’s a lot that’s starting to happen, we need to know where the bus stops are, we need to know what the school supplies are…what the day is going to look like,” he said. “School offices will start opening (this) week, and we really want to guide parents to those school offices and to office coordinators and principals. We want to make sure that people have what they need to make sure they’re successful.”