Bellingham School District vs Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
WA · 11,337 students • AK · 11,857 students • fiscal year 2024 • swap sides
In one line
- Bellingham School District and Fairbanks North Star Borough School District spend within 2% of each other per student once local price levels are accounted for.
- Bellingham School District directs 8 more cents of every operating dollar to instruction than Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.
- Bellingham School District is far more dependent on local property taxes (36% of revenue vs 25%), which ties its budget more tightly to local property values.
- Bellingham School District reports fewer students per teacher (17.4 vs 19.5). This is a staffing ratio, not an average class size.
Are these even comparable?
Establish the shape of each district before reading a single dollar figure.
| Bellingham School District | Fairbanks North Star Borough School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Students enrolled | 11,337 | 11,857 |
| Schools | 25 | 33 |
| Grades served | PK–12 | PK–12 |
| Setting | City | City |
| County | Whatcom County | Fairbanks North Star Borough |
| State | WA | AK |
| Local price level (US = 100) BEA Regional Price Parity. Above 100 means a dollar buys less here than the national average. | 103.3 | 103.2 |
The headline dollar
Current operating spending per student, shown three ways. The first is what each district reports. The second and third are the honest ones for comparison.
| Bellingham School District | Fairbanks North Star Borough School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Per student, as reported | $18,143 | $18,337 |
| Per student, price-adjusted Divided by the local price level, so both figures are in the same money. | $17,558 | $17,767 |
| Per student, price-adjusted, excluding transport Transportation provision varies enormously between districts and states. Removing it compares the parts both districts actually do. | $17,013 | $16,803 |
| Capital spending per student Buildings and land, reported separately and never folded into the operating figures above. It is lumpy: a district mid-build looks expensive for two years. | Locked | Locked |
Bellingham School District
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
Where the money comes from
The funding mix determines how exposed a district is to local property values, to state politics, and to federal programmes ending.
Bellingham School District
- Local 36.2% Locked
- State 58.4% Locked
- Federal 5.4% Locked
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
- Local 25.1% Locked
- State 54.9% Locked
- Federal 20.0% Locked
| Bellingham School District | Fairbanks North Star Borough School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Local share of revenue Mostly property tax. A high share means school budgets track local property values, up and down. | 36.2% | 25.1% |
| State share of revenue | 58.4% | 54.9% |
| Federal share of revenue | 5.4% | 20.0% |
| Total revenue | Locked | Locked |
How WA funds its districts
Prototypical school funding model: the state funds staffing ratios for a model school, with levies limited on top.
How AK funds its districts
We have not yet written up AK's funding formula, so nothing is claimed here.
Where the money goes
The same slices in the same order for both districts, plus the differences by function — because two pie charts side by side hide exactly the thing you want to see.
Bellingham School District
- Instruction 60.1% Locked
- Instructional staff support 5.9% Locked
- Student support 8.6% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 9.6% Locked
- Transportation 3.1% Locked
- Food service 2.7% Locked
- School administration 5.5% Locked
- District administration 0.6% Locked
- Other support 3.5% Locked
- Other current 3.1% Locked
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
- Instruction 53.5% Locked
- Instructional staff support 4.3% Locked
- Student support 10.7% Locked
- Operations & maintenance 9.4% Locked
- Transportation 5.4% Locked
- Food service 2.9% Locked
- School administration 5.7% Locked
- District administration 1.2% Locked
- Other support 5.1% Locked
- Other current 3.0% Locked
What is actually different
Share of each district's operating dollar, Bellingham School District minus Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. Two pie charts side by side are almost impossible to read against each other; this is the same data as one chart.
| Bellingham School District | Fairbanks North Star Borough School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Cents of each operating dollar reaching classrooms Instruction plus instructional staff support, as a share of current spending. | 66.0% | 57.8% |
| Administration share District office plus school administration. | 6.0% | 6.9% |
| Transportation share | 3.1% | 5.4% |
What the money buys
Staffing levels are the most direct thing a budget converts into.
| Bellingham School District | Fairbanks North Star Borough School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher This is a staffing ratio: total enrolment divided by teaching staff. It is NOT average class size, which no national source collects. Actual classes are larger than this number in every district. | 17.4 | 19.5 |
| Students per counsellor | Locked | Locked |
| Students per administrator | Locked | Locked |
| Total salaries All staff, not teachers alone. The federal survey does not separate teacher pay. | Locked | Locked |
Who they serve
The answer to "but they serve different kids" — which is usually a fair objection.
| Bellingham School District | Fairbanks North Star Borough School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Child poverty rate Census SAIPE estimate of children aged 5–17 in poverty within the district boundary. Used instead of free-lunch eligibility, which community eligibility has made unusable for comparison. | 7.5% | 7.7% |
| English learners | 0 | 0 |
| Students with disabilities | 0 | 0 |
| Enrolment change, 5 years | -5.7% | -11.0% |
Results, and results for the money
Stability and risk
The homebuyer’s real question: what is likely to change after I move in?
Bellingham School District
- Declining enrollment Enrolment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrolment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
- High debt burden More than 10% of total spending goes to interest and debt retirement, money that cannot reach a classroom.
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
- Declining enrollment Enrolment fell more than 5% over five years. Enrolment decline is the single best predictor of school closures and programme cuts.
| Bellingham School District | Fairbanks North Star Borough School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrolment change, 5 years | -5.7% | -11.0% |
| Long-term debt per student | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service share of spending | Locked | Locked |
Enrolling a child
The same checklist for both districts, read off each district’s own enrolment page. Every "required" below links to the sentence it came from.
Bellingham School District
How to Register Online - Bellingham School District No 501
Registration runs through Skyward. Read August 25, 2026.
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
Enroll - Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
Read August 25, 2026.
Is a seat at your zoned school guaranteed?
Bellingham School District
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction, and we have read only a fraction of the ones that do. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
We have no such statement from this district — which is not the same as a promise that your zoned school has room. Most districts never publish the policy in either direction, and we have read only a fraction of the ones that do. Ask the school office directly whether your address’s school is enrolling at your child’s grade level before you sign anything.
- This is the district’s own published wording, not our summary of it. Policies are rewritten between enrolment seasons and a page can be out of date the day after we read it — the school office is the only authority on whether a particular grade at a particular school is full right now.
- A warning here is about capacity, not about your address. It does not mean your child will be moved; it means the district has told you in writing that it may move them.
- Required the page says so, and the sentence is quoted.
- Mentioned only it comes up, but not as a requirement — often a sentence saying the district cannot demand it.
- Not mentioned we read the page and it was not on it. That is not the same as "not required".
- Page not read we have no enrolment page for this district.
Documents to bring
| Bellingham School District | Fairbanks North Star Borough School District | |
|---|---|---|
| Proof of residency | Required “Proof of Residency” | Required “Utility bills such as phone, water or electric” |
| Proof of age (usually a birth certificate) | Required “Student Birth Certificate” | Required “Birth Certificate” |
| Immunisation records | Not mentioned | Required “Proof of Immunization” |
| Physical examination | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Dental, vision or hearing screening | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Tuberculosis test | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Records from the previous school | Not mentioned | Required “Transcripts or Report Cards” |
| IEP or 504 plan | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Custody or guardianship paperwork | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Parent or guardian photo ID | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Home language survey | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Emergency contact information | Required “Emergency Contact Information” | Not mentioned |
| Proof of income | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
| Social security number Asked for by some districts. It is not required to enrol, and a school may not refuse a child who does not provide one. We list it because districts ask, not because you must answer. | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
How enrolling works
Locked 11 steps of the enrolment process — deadlines, appointments, proof of residency — are not shown. What to bring is above, and stays free.
- A blank row means the requirement did not appear on the page we read. It does not mean the district will not ask for it — published lists are routinely incomplete, and the registrar has the final word.
- Requirements change every enrolment season. Check the district’s own page, linked above, before you gather anything.
- A district cannot condition enrolment on your child’s immigration status: under Plyler v. Doe (1982) every child resident in the district is entitled to a free public education. If a district asks for something that would reveal status, you are not obliged to provide it.
- If your family is in temporary or shared housing, the McKinney-Vento Act lets a child enrol immediately without the residency and records documents listed here. Ask for the district’s homeless liaison by name.
Comparability notes
- Cross-state comparison. Dollars below are shown both as reported and adjusted to a common price level, because a dollar buys different amounts of teacher in WA and AK.
What these numbers are, exactly
- Finance: US Census Bureau Annual Survey of School System Finances (F-33), fiscal year 2024.
- Enrolment, staffing and directory: NCES Common Core of Data via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal, 2024.
- Child poverty: Census SAIPE school-district estimates, 2024.
- Price levels: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024.
- Districts self-report to the F-33 survey. States differ in what they count as an operating expense, and several pay teacher pensions centrally so that cost never appears in a district’s books. No arithmetic fixes that; we name it instead.
- Property tax basis and borrowing: the same F-33 filing, revenue codes T06 and T02 and the long-term debt schedule (_19H, _21F, _31F, _41F).
Who decides, and what it costs you
Every band above this one asks what a district spends. This one asks who chose to.
Bellingham School District
The district levies its own school tax
This district raises property tax in its own name. Who sets the rate varies by state — an elected board in some, a public vote in others — but the levy is the school system’s own, and it is the part of a tax bill that school politics moves most directly.
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
The county or town levies it, not the district
This school system reports no property tax of its own. It is a dependent system: the county or city levies the tax and appropriates money to the schools. You still pay school property tax — the school board simply is not the body that sets it, and the appropriation is argued out at the county or city council.
| Bellingham School District | Fairbanks North Star Borough School District | |
|---|---|---|
| School property tax levied, per student Only for districts that levy in their own name. Blank where the county or town levies instead — see the cards above, and read the next row. | $7,297 | — |
| Appropriated by the county or town, per student What the parent government handed the schools, for dependent systems. This is a general appropriation, not solely property tax. | — | $4,399 |
| Property tax as a share of all revenue How much of the budget rides on local property values, and therefore on local votes. | 31.6% | — |
| Long-term debt already owed, per student The balance at the end of the year, for scale. Repaid over decades, so it is a commitment made by earlier boards rather than a bill arriving now. | Locked | Locked |
| Debt service as a share of spending Interest plus principal repaid this year, against total spending. This is the part of the debt that is being paid now, out of money that would otherwise reach a classroom. | Locked | Locked |
| New long-term debt issued, per student Money borrowed during fiscal year 2024, as reported to the federal survey. What this figure does and does not tell you is set out under the table. | $9,580 | $0 |
- Fairbanks North Star Borough School District: issued no new long-term debt in fiscal year 2024. That is a reported zero, not a gap in the data.
- A figure in the borrowing row is not a bond voters approved. The federal survey records debt issued, and that includes refinancing existing debt at a new rate — which changes nothing about what a district owes — as well as certificates of participation and lease-revenue debt, which in many states a board can issue with no referendum at all. To find out what was actually on a ballot, check the county election office.
- Debt is repaid over decades. A large balance per student is a commitment made by earlier boards and earlier voters, not a bill arriving this year. The debt service row above it is the part being paid now.
Who sits on the board
Bellingham School District board of education
- Scott Ritchey — School Board President
- Date Began — Position No. 3 term ends 2027
- Camille Diaz Hackler — School Board Vice President
- Katie Rose — School Board Director
- Jenn Mason — School Board Director
- Douglas Benjamin — School Board Director
- How long a term runs: “He was elected for a two-year term in 2015 and re-elected in 2017, 2021 and 2025.”
Read from the district’s own board page on 2026-08-24. Boards change; the district’s page is the current record, not ours.
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District board of education
- Robert Burgess — President
- Morgan Dulian — Clerk
- Audra Hull — Member
- Meredith Maple — Vice President
- Timothy Doran — Member
- Loa Carroll-Hubbard — Treasurer
- Naomi Hewitt — Member
- Members are elected: “The School Board is composed of seven elected officials, each elected at-large, for three-year staggered terms.”
Read from the district’s own board page on 2026-08-24. Boards change; the district’s page is the current record, not ours.
Funding measures on the ballot
Bellingham School District
$781.1M approved by voters across 8 measures. 4 of these outcomes were published by the state but never certified.
| Election | Measure | Amount | Yes | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-11-04 | Capital levy collected 2026–2031 · $0.36 per $1,000 of assessed value | $66M | 64.5% | Count not certified |
Locked 9 earlier measures in this district’s history are not shown.
2 measures have no outcome in the state’s file.
From the state’s own election results file. Latest election on record: 2026-08-04.
What this state publishes: Bonds, capital levies and enrichment levies, as OSPI reports them. Washington bonds need 60% yes and a validation turnout; levies on the same ballot need 50%.
WA published no results for 2022 and 2023 on the page we read, so a measure put to voters in those years would not appear here. That is a gap in the state’s own publishing, not a year we skipped.
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
We have not read AK’s election results, so this column is empty because of us and not because of Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. Whether it has asked its voters for money is a question its county election office can answer and we cannot, yet.
- A vote share is not an outcome. What it takes to carry varies by state and by measure — in some states a bond needs a supermajority and a minimum turnout while a levy on the same ballot needs half, so a clear majority can still lose. Every outcome shown here is copied from the state’s own results file, and the rule that applied is stated with the coverage above. Where that file stated no outcome we show the vote share and no verdict, rather than working one out from the percentage.
- These are the measures a district put to its voters, not its whole tax bill. A property tax bill also carries county, city and state levies that have nothing to do with schools, and in most states a school board can issue some kinds of debt with no vote at all.
Unlock the full comparison of Bellingham School District and Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
The verdict, the headline dollar, the funding shares, who is served and every comparability caveat are free above, and stay free. What is behind the lock is the detail you would want before acting on any of it:
- capital spending per student
- total revenue and the funding mix in dollars
- the ten-line per-student breakdown of where the money goes
- counsellor and administrator ratios, and the total salary bill
- the debt behind the risk flags — per student, and as a share of spending
- the enrolment process — deadlines, appointments and proof of residency
- the full ballot history: 9 more bonds and levies, with the amounts
$19 once for this pair, or $7 a month for every district in the country.
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Compare something else
Bellingham School District on its own · Fairbanks North Star Borough School District on its own