South Whidbey budget gains from highest enrollment in a decade

South Whidbey School District is heading into its 2026-27 budget with 1,132 full-time equivalent basic education students, the highest enrollment the district has seen in a decade. That gives the district a better revenue outlook because state apportionment is tied to student counts and whether those students are full-time or part-time.

For parents in Langley and across the south end of Whidbey Island, the key question is whether that growth will change what children experience in class next year. The answer, for now, is limited relief rather than a clear expansion. The district’s own enrollment guidance says FTE, not headcount, is the budgeting measure used for state funding, and spring estimates determine money from September through December before the state recalculates apportionment with actual enrollment in January and again each month through May.

That means the bump can help steady the ledger, but it does not erase the pressures already built into the budget. Brook Willeford, the South Whidbey board chair and president, said he was told in March to expect an 18% increase in health insurance costs, only to see that forecast worsen to 28% by the end of May. The district’s health insurance rose by $932 per qualified employee, adding another hard-to-predict expense on top of inflation and staffing decisions the board has already had to make.

South Whidbey’s own budget materials describe a familiar squeeze: special education costs exceed state and federal funding, and operating costs have climbed faster than revenue. In its 2026 legislative priorities, the district said it serves about 1,117 FTE students on three campuses across roughly 60 square miles of south Whidbey.

The enrollment increase comes as many Washington districts are moving in the opposite direction. Statewide public-school enrollment fell by about 9,000 students in the 2025-26 school year, to about 1.096 million, and remains roughly 50,000 below the 2019-20 level. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s February 2026 forecast projected average annual enrollment of 1,055,195 for 2025-26 and 1,047,403 for 2026-27, underscoring how slowly the state is recovering from the pandemic-era drop.

That backdrop also helps explain the caution in South Whidbey. Willeford said some nearby districts saw premium increases of more than 60%, and Oak Harbor School District faced a 37% insurance rate increase in May through the Washington Schools Risk Management Pool. South Whidbey plans to adopt its 2026-27 budget in early July and submit it to the state in August, leaving district leaders to balance a rare enrollment gain against costs they still cannot control.