One breakfast nets a whopping $423,000 for Mercer Island schools

Like most school districts around the state, the Mercer Island School District is facing millions in budget cuts and the likelihood of teacher layoffs.

So parents decided to do something about it — something big.

On Tuesday, the Mercer Island Schools Foundation served rolls, fruit and coffee at a breakfast fundraiser, and raised $423,000 in community contributions. It's double the amount raised the previous year, and will make a significant dent in the $2 million the district expects to lose in state funding.

"It's amazing, absolutely amazing," said Superintendent Gary Plano.

The district has outlined a budget-cutting plan that includes laying off 14 teachers, eliminating two associate superintendent positions, cutting programs and increasing class size. The breakfast fundraiser will be used to help offset the cutbacks, probably by restoring teaching positions, Plano said.

The schools foundation hopes to raise more money in the coming weeks, with "coffee and conversation" events planned at all five of the district's schools, said Penny Yantis, executive director of the Mercer Island Schools Foundation. But to make up the entire state budget shortfall is "probably a bit of a stretch," she said.

The Tuesday breakfast had been in the works for many weeks, and had a number of business sponsors, including Boeing, Starbucks, John L. Scott, Dollar Development, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Intelius and members of the Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce.

Plano called it "a sad commentary on public education that we're having to have these types of events" to make up for the shortfall. But he said he felt lucky to be working in a district where parents were so supportive of public schools.

As part of a long-standing agreement, the schools foundation will contribute a percentage of the money raised to Bailey Gatzert Elementary, a Seattle public school where more than 90 percent of the students are poor enough to qualify for the free-lunch program.

Last year, Mercer Island gave Bailey Gatzert $17,000; this year, the contribution will be about that much money again, Yantis said.

"It is a way for this community to reach out and help our friends across the lake," Plano said.

Katherine Long: 206-464-2219 or klong@seattletimes.com