Oak Harbor School District is in a waiting game that’s left some crucial decisions undecided, including which schools some kindergarteners will attend next fall.

Local school officials need to know if state lawmakers will approve a measure to pay for full-day kindergarten and another that mandates how schools should reduce class sizes.

School officials have a long list of details that need to be buttoned down before students return to class in the fall. For starters, they may need to hire teachers, buy thousands of dollars of supplies and decide where those extra kindergarten classes will go.

It’s hard to do any of that because state lawmakers continue to squabble about the state budget. Friday lawmakers entered a second special session that could last as long as 30 days.

“The biggest challenge is there are a lot of unknowns,” said Peter Hunt, school board president.

While school districts statewide are waiting for the same answers, Oak Harbor has an additional unknown to plan for: the Navy.

The U.S. Department of Defense identified a need for additional EA-18G Growlers to enhance the United State’s electronic attack capability and officials would like to place some of those squadrons at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.

The final number will be determined by Congress. Exactly how many personnel and their children are coming is unclear.

The district could receive hundreds of new pupils.

No decision will be made until the Navy completes an Environmental Impact Statement by the spring of 2017.

The Navy also is replacing the P-3 Orion with P-8A Poseidon, which will bring three additional squadrons to the base.

While the number of personnel in each squadron will decrease, the overall military population will increase from 7,200 to 7,900.

The district is doing everything it can to get ready, said Oak Harbor Superintendent Lance Gibbon.

The district has purchase orders ready for things such as supplies and curriculum materials. And they’re poised to hire teachers and other staff.

They’ll be competing with other school districts who also may need to hire more teachers.

One of the biggest challenges is classroom space. If state lawmakers opt to pay for full-day kindergarten, the district expects it will need five more classrooms.

The district purchased two new double portable classrooms that will be placed at Broadview and Olympic View elementary schools. Crescent Harbor is being remodeled, turning part of an open area into a new room.

Other schools are creating space by replacing their computer labs with mobile carts with portable computer tablets.

Oak Harbor Elementary already has five full-day and two half-day kindergarten classes. The school board tossed around having more kindergarten classes located at the school. It has the most open classroom space of all the schools.

The district sometimes hears people suggest that Clover Valley Elementary be re-opened, Gibbons said. The school is already at capacity with part-time homeschoolers who enroll at some school district classes and other early childhood education programs.

There’s another issue. Even if state lawmakers do decide to pay for all-day kindergarten, that money only goes toward basic salary for teachers and the district has to augment that salary. It also doesn’t pay for things like new classrooms.

A new portable, which holds two classes, can cost as much as $180,000. Equipping a classroom with curriculum materials, desks and other supplies costs about $30,000.

The district likely won’t get any money for buying new portables or supplies, although lawmakers may approve some money in other parts of the budget that could be used for this purpose.