Last week, the Mukilteo School District visited the club and gave an update on schools in our area. We welcomed Superintendent Dr. Alison Brynelson, Communications and Community Relations Director Diane Bradford, and Business Services Director Jon Poolman to a recent meeting.

The Mukilteo School District currently stands at over 15,260 student enrollment. The 21 schools included in that number are in parts of Edmonds, Everett, Mill Creek, unincorporated Snohomish County, and Mukilteo (city proper). To understand the school boundaries a bit better, 60% of homes within the district actually have an Everett address.

The district is very ethnically diverse, with 117 languages being spoken as a first language. Over the past three years, with a myriad of reasons dotting the educational landscape, including but not limited to the pandemic, the Ukraine war, and other refugee and immigrant populations, our district numbers have shifted.

The district has welcomed nearly 1,700 students. Of those, about 700 are from Ukraine and Mexico. As a result, we do not typically mirror the student populations of neighboring districts like Mill Creek, Marysville, etc. Instead we bear a closer resemblance to Pierce County districts. In the late ‘90s the district had roughly 78% Caucasian students, whereas now it is about 35%. This means English as a Second Language (ESL) learners have bumped from 3% to 26%.

Another number that has significantly changed is the low income eligible population. In that same time frame, the percentage has risen from 23% to 54%. We are not alone in this challenge. Many districts are carefully working to keep a balance between growing numbers of less stable populations, and the providing quality educational opportunities to all students, wherever they land on the scholastic wheel.

Overall our district has seen a reduction in student enrollment which comes from a variety of reasons such as families moving during the pandemic, more home schooling, and so forth. But along with that, inadequate funding at the state and federal level has created gaps in what programs they can offer, how they manage staffing, and a variety of other problems.

At the local level, bonds and levies periodically are presented to voters to help manage capital projects, building upgrades and such. It behooves local voters to listen to town hall meetings, school meetings and other outlets to learn more about what it will take to ensure students in our area are given the best chance for a healthy and vibrant education.

#livelovesharekiwanis #mukilteo #itsforthekids #volunteers