In a final, pleading effort, the Issaquah School District is reaching out to families to help raise $380,000 for new science curriculum next year.

The proposal, which is being presented at almost every school PTA in the district, is unusual, said Emilie Hard, the executive director of teaching and learning. “We’re in a situation that we never dreamed of being in.”

It’s also a sign of lean times and high expectations from both Issaquah parents and the state.

“Our community really expects a lot,” Hard said. “We’re trying to make this work.”

Up until this spring, the district’s plan was to update the elementary science curriculum next year by using money from its fat reserve fund.

The Issaquah Schools Foundation also jumped on board, raising $120,000.

Administrators now say the state’s mid-year budget cuts resulted in the district using too much of its reserve fund, about $1.5 million. Essentially, the district was forced to use money that was otherwise destined for science books to survive the current school year.

With the state facing a $5.1 billion deficit in the next biennium, the financial future is even bleaker.

While state politicians have cut education money with one hand, they’ve raised the bar of expectations with another.

About two years ago, Washington’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, known best for giving the standardized tests, introduced new science standards.

Students were tested on those standards for the first time last year, and they will take the test again this spring.

So while one branch of government was raising the science standards, another was making it harder to buy curriculum to teach the standards.

The district is calling it their “stop gap” year.

The money problem is so bad that many districts aren’t even trying to acquire the new books, Hard said.

For Creekside Elementary PTA president Ina Ghangurde, the lacking curriculum is worrisome.

She wonders how well her third-grader will do when it’s his turn to take the fifth-grade test, which covers all of elementary science.

Albeit frustrating, the district appreciates the new standards, because they increase rigor, Hard said.

“The world has changed, careers have changed, and our students need deep understanding of science, math, and tech, and engineering,” she said.

“Deeper” thinking

In the district’s teaching and learning offices, dozens of boxes loaded with curriculum are stacked chin-high down a long hallway.

Just imagine the storage unit, said Joanne Griesemer, the elementary curriculum specialist, with a laugh.

Over the past year a committee has thumbed through thousands of books, and considered hundreds of experiments.

Most curriculum is written to meet California’s and Texas’ requirements, forcing the committee to cherry pick the best books for each science unit, instead of sticking with one publisher, Hard said.

Washington’s new standards increase rigor by forcing students to think more systematically and to apply their learning.

It’s no longer “sit and get,” Greisemer said.

For example, if third graders do a unit on butterflies, in addition to watching caterpillars transform in a glass box, they’ll also be asked to understand the life cycle as a system and then apply it to other plants and animals.

“It’s much deeper thinking,” she said. “These standards are vigorous and challenging.”

Each grade level will focus on three areas – life science, physical science and earth and space.

The district committed to install life sciences in grades K-5 next year, a $500,000 cost. The next two focuses will come as quickly as the money is available, about $250,000 for each.

The money from the school foundation will go toward the second phase.

The district needs the money by summer to install the program by next fall.

It would cost about $50 per student to raise enough money, said Beth Donahoe, a PTSA liaison for ISF. “It’s just going to take a little bit of money from a lot of people.”

The district asked the PTAs to consider donating surplus budget money to ISF for the purchase. Creekside responded the night they heard the proposal, offering $7,500 and pledging to help spread the word.

“I would love to see the whole thing installed in the fall,” Ghangurde said. “They’re going to need it to succeed.”