SEATTLE — Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Brent C. Jones announced a new school consolidation plan following pushback from parents, students and community members.
Under the new proposal, five schools would be closed. It also spares the closure of schools with specialized service models, such as Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Dual Language Immersion.
The district initially released two options that would have saved $31.5 million and $25.5 million, respectively. It was intended to close an approximate $94 million budget gap spurred by decreasing student enrollment and less federal funding.
According to SPS, enrollment has dropped by 4,000 students and officials don't expect it to rebound any time soon. One of the initial plans would have closed 17 schools and the other would have shut down 21.
Families at many schools, including Catharine Blaine K-8 in Magnolia, told KING 5 Tuesday they are relieved to be spared from consolidation.
"Really happy and grateful that it's not closing," said one third-grader.
A first-grader from the same school added, "I'm excited for it to stay open," and said he loves his teachers.
Parents like Bert Kashyap say they're relieved to hear their schools will stay open, but concerns remain
"It's bittersweet," Kashyap said. "This is great news and we're excited to see the school will be spared short term -- we don't know what long term projections are -- but it's also not great for the district to have created this sort of vibe that potentially schools could be closing, and that handful that are impacted are going to feel the brunt of changes in the community."
Alternate approach to school funding
Parent Jake Milstein described the situation as a "black eye" for the district, noting that the district must paint a better picture for lawmakers about the need to increase funding and recommending that legislators take major action.
"They need to lift the levy cap," Milstein said. "The taxpayers should get to decide how we spend our tax dollars. We don't need Olympia dictating how we spend our tax dollars, if we want to spend our tax dollars improving our schools, they should let us do that."
Lifting the levy cap is one of a variety of suggestions for the legislature. Some unions and associations are pushing for a complete overhaul of the school funding model; others are pushing for tweaks in the meantime to fully fund programs such as special education.
David Knight, an associate professor for the University of Washington's College of Education, says another alternative some have been pushing lawmakers to look into takes a progressive approach to school funding.
"Help drive more funding to school districts with the greatest need," Knight said. "Those are funding models designed around the student-as opposed to [models that just look at enrollment numbers]."
Kashyap says it is also on the entire community to try to increase enrollment in public schools by protecting and raising awareness of its most beneficial programs.
"Today, there are tens of thousands of kids in private schools," Kashyap said. "We need to give parents the visibility that public schools are a great option for you and as they get into enrolling kids in kindergarten, we have to have better messaging from across the community, including school leadership, about the great programs we have here."
What happens next
The new consolidation proposal is expected to be in effect for the 2025-26 school year. Jones did not release which five schools are set to be closed, but that announcement is expected by the end of October.
In the statement to SPS students, families and community members, district staff and a third-party expert will analyze the options based on physical building condition, learning environments, enrollment-to-capacity ratio, access to specialized service models and what would minimize disruption for students and staff.
"We know we need the support of our students, families, and staff to uplift a large-scale change such as this. My hope is that we can work together to re-establish a level of trust that allows us to move forward in a way that honors our school communities," Jones wrote.
But there are certain schools that may still be up for closure consideration next school year. Of the list that was previously named, the remaining schools appear to all be elementary schools. That list includes:
- North Beach
- Greenlake
- Decatur
- Sacajawea
- Cedar Park
- Laurelhurst
- John Hay
- McGilvra
- Stevens
- Graham Hill
- Dunlap
- Rainier Valley
- Lafayette
- Sanislo
John Hay, for example, has been open and serving students since 1905.
At McGilvra Elementary in Madison Park, parents have created an online campaign to "Save [their] School."
"McGilvra, the way it was proposed a couple weeks ago, would be split between different schools," said Lynne Morris, whose child attends McGilvra.
Morris is among the parents who fear their school could be on the chopping block, simply because their building is old.
"McGilvra is a school that has excellent student outcomes," she said.
Another parent from that school named Brendan Levy said, "Whether or not it's 21 schools or five schools, this has been a bad plan and it's a bad process. Our kids deserve better than for the district to just keep pulling numbers out of a hat, and seeing what the public will tolerate.”
District families are urged to submit their input to the SPS Let's Talk form. The district will schedule in-person informational meetings as well.