A vote is expected at the November School Board Meeting. Let’s show the board how much our schools mean to us.

Bellingham Public Schools has scheduled two formal public hearings regarding the proposed closure and repurposing of Columbia and Carl Cozier elementary schools.

RE: Columbia Elementary

Monday, Nov. 2

5:30 -7:30 p.m.
@ the District Office
1985 Barkley Boulevard

RE: Carl Cozier Elementary

Tuesday, Nov. 3

5:30 -7:30 p.m.
@ the District Office
1985 Barkley Boulevard

Anyone can share comments with the board without attending the public hearings via the Listening Post or email.

A board vote is expected at the next school board meeting.

School Board Meeting

Thursday, Nov. 12

5:30 p.m.
@ the District Office
1985 Barkley Boulevard

Can’t make the meetings? Share your voice by writing a letter to the Board or sending us a note (we value your privacy).

Send the School Board a Letter

Send the City Council a Letter

We are parents, teachers, staff, and community members who are uniting to keep neighborhood schools open.

Public Statement from the Coalition

The School Board Must Exercise Its Authority. Our Children Deserve a Real Process.

September 28, 2026 — We are deeply disappointed by Dr. Baker’s recommendation to close Columbia and Carl Cozier Elementary Schools.

What has been presented as a community process has been anything but transparent. There has been no meaningful cost-benefit analysis, no substantive community dialogue, and no clear demonstration that closing these schools is the best path forward for students and families.

For years, Greg Baker has been unilaterally reshaping our public school system around a vision of larger, fewer schools and an oversized centralized administration. Closing Columbia and Carl Cozier would not create meaningful new resources for students; it would simply spread the same resources across more students in larger schools. Families deserve to know whether this proposal is truly about improving education or advancing an administrative agenda.

But the most concerning issue is the growing disconnect between the public process and what appears to have been a predetermined outcome.

Dr. Baker does not get to decide that our schools are closing. The elected School Board does.

Yet his administration is already communicating with families about where our children will go as though the Board’s vote is simply a rubber stamp. That is disrespectful to families, and it is disrespectful to the Board itself.

The public process should not be a formality after the outcome has already been decided.

At the center of this debate are children—not buildings or budget line items. They are the ones who will bear the consequences of these decisions. Our children and families deserve a transparent process, honest consideration of alternatives, and a school district that genuinely listens before making a decision that will permanently change their school communities.

Now we need our School Board members to hear from you.

Email the School Board and tell them:

Do not treat this recommendation as a done deal.
Exercise your authority as the elected decision-makers.
Demand a transparent cost-benefit analysis and meaningful consideration of alternatives.
Listen to the families, educators, and communities directly affected by these closures.
Do not vote to close Columbia and Carl Cozier until the public has been given a genuine opportunity to understand, question, and respond to the proposal.

Our elected Board members need to know that their constituents expect them to make their own informed decision—not simply endorse an outcome already being communicated by the administration.

Please email the School Board today. Our children deserve to have their voices—and ours—heard.

Contact the School Board

Download a Sample Letter

The District wants to close neighborhood schools.
The numbers don’t support it.

See Our Insights Report

Financial & Enrollment Justification
- Weak Financial Case: The cited annual savings of ~$1M per school closure is questioned. Actual savings may be negligible or negative due to factors not fully accounted for, such as staff reassignment, increased transportation costs, ongoing maintenance for vacant buildings, and reduced state funding as families leave the district and enrollment declines further. The lack of a complete, school-level cost-benefit analysis makes the financial justification unproven.
- Manageable Enrollment: The district's argument relies on declining enrollment projections, but enrollment is not fixed. The district could actively manage demand and generate meaningful revenue through boundary adjustments, better utilization of annual transfer requests, and open/choice enrollment programs, instead of just managing decline.
Process, Transparency, and Governance
- No Serious Evaluation of Alternatives: School closure is the most disruptive option and should be a last resort. There is no evidence of a transparent, side-by-side evaluation of alternatives like boundary adjustments, program consolidation, co-locating services, or using attrition to reduce staffing over time.
- Lack of Transparency and Oversight: Key decisions are based on enrollment forecasts without clear validation or published confidence ranges, and the process had limited early public engagement. Concerns about board oversight include heavy reliance on district-provided analysis, lack of independent validation, and limited challenge to the proposed strategy.
- Questionable Administrative Priorities: The proposed school-level disruption contrasts with visible central spending, including a ~$32M district office project and high superintendent compensation (~$400K), signaling that cost-cutting is not being applied evenly.
Community and Trust Impacts
- Undervalued Community Impacts: Neighborhood schools are not interchangeable assets. Closures would eliminate walkable schools, increase reliance on transportation, undermine community cohesion, and conflict with the City of Bellingham’s long-term planning goals around walkability and connected neighborhoods.
- Risk to Voter Trust: Voters have consistently supported school funding through bonds and levies based on the understanding that funds would support neighborhood schools. Diverting bond funds to a district office and considering reinvested schools for closure creates a credibility gap, which risks the passage of future levies and bonds.
Conclusion

A more responsible path exists, which includes fully modeling financial impacts, validating projections, evaluating alternatives side-by-side, and using attrition to adjust staffing gradually. The current case for closures is not a sufficient foundation for this permanent decision, as it rests on incomplete math, untested assumptions, and a failure to fully explore alternatives.

Public Statement

June 4, 2026

Public Statement from the Bellingham Neighborhood Schools Coalition

Regarding the Facilities Task Force Recommendation to Bellingham School District’s Superintendent on School Closures

JUNE 4, 2026 - 9:30 AM PST - BELLINGHAM, WA — In response to the recent Facilities Task Force recommendation to close both Columbia Elementary and Carl Cozier Elementary, the Bellingham Neighborhood Schools Coalition has issued the following statement:

Our fundamental preference is to work with the Bellingham Public Schools district, not against it. We firmly believe that the root cause of this crisis is the systemic underfunding of public education across Washington State. As parents, neighbors, and community members, we would much rather channel our collective energy into partnering with the district to champion its strength in Olympia. Instead, we are forced to advocate for the very preservation of public education right here on our doorstep.

With that, our top priority remains unwavering: keeping all neighborhood schools open.

We do not believe school closures are the right or sustainable solution. While we remain hopeful that the district leadership and the community can work hand-in-hand toward a solution that preserves these vital neighborhood hubs, families are prepared to defend their schools. If the district chooses to move forward with these closures, our communities will continue advocating for alternatives through every single available public, legal, and democratic process.

A Call for Statewide Mobilization

If the district is willing to collaborate with us to keep Columbia and Carl Cozier open, we are fully prepared to help mobilize families and education advocates to demand reform where it matters most—in Olympia.

This is not just a Bellingham problem. The Bellingham Neighborhood Schools Coalition has already initiated conversations with parent and community groups in Issaquah, Olympia, Yakima, Seattle, and Mercer Island who are facing identical budgetary threats. There is a rapidly growing, statewide appetite for a unified coalition to force a reckoning on Washington's school funding model. Bellingham has the opportunity to help lead that charge, rather than capitulating to a broken system.

Next Steps

Over the coming weeks, our coalition will continue to:

● Analyze the specifics of the task force’s recommendations and data.

● Engage directly with affected families to ensure their voices are amplified.

● Evaluate all strategic and community-led next steps.

"Our ultimate hope is that this pivotally important moment becomes a conversation about how we preserve our neighborhood schools and strengthen public education for every child in Bellingham, rather than a defeatist exercise in how we manage decline."

We invite the School Board and Superintendent to join us at the table to build a future of advocacy, not austerity.

Download the PDF

About

The Bellingham Neighborhood Schools Coalition was formed in response to the proposed closures of two deeply valued community schools—Carl Cozier and Columbia Elementary. What began as a collective effort to protect neighborhood schools has grown into a broader movement rooted in community, collaboration, and a shared commitment to the future of public education.
The Coalition initially began as a group of parents of children who attend Columbia Elementary and Carl Cozier Elementary, and concerned members of our community, united in the goal of keeping our schools open in the face of district budget deficits.
Our advocacy isn’t just limited to those two neighborhood schools, though. These issues affect Bellingham as a whole.
We believe strongly in maintaining and supporting a robust public schools system by ensuring there is accountability, transparency, and integrity exhibited by our district administrators and elected school board members.
We are collectively dedicated to the retention of school communities district-wide, and a “student first” framework for budgetary decisions.

What you need to know

Contact the School Board

A Bellingham Public Schools facilities task force has recommended the district close two elementary schools (Columbia Elementary and Carl Cozier) to adjust for declining enrollment. Read the final recommendation.

Dr. Baker has accepted this recommendation, but the board has yet to vote on it.

The effect of closing the schools will be tremendous. Kids would be reassigned to other schools (Alderwood, Sunnyland, and Wade King), affecting every family in the school district. Broader community effects may include decreased property values, severed community connections, environmental impacts from increased bussing, misalignment with Bellingham’s goals for future growth and planning, and damage to taxpayer trust

How you can get involved

Volunteer with us
Share your story—we’re looking to gather quotes, perspectives, and stories
Display a sign
Share our Insights Report with your community
Attend Bellingham school board meetings
Send a note to the Bellingham School Board:
board@bellinghamschools.org
Contact the Bellingham City Council by emailing all seven members at ccmail@cob.org