Want to see change in Seattle schools? Run for School Board

School board races do not typically excite broad public interest. That’s understandable for a demanding volunteer job, but deeply problematic because it results in candidates winning seats with little competition. And the results resound for years, shaping a child’s K-12 education.

Unhappiness with the drift of Seattle Public Schools had been a low rumble before the pandemic. But it exploded after students returned to classrooms four years ago, with good reason. The state’s largest school district has serious problems to tackle in every area — academic, financial and philosophical.

There’s a real chance to change direction through the School Board election this fall, when four of seven seats will be open. But to date, only nine people have officially signaled their intention to run. In one district — the South End, currently represented by Brandon Hersey — no candidates have announced. (See a map of board districts at st.news/districts)

Here’s hoping that changes this week, as the window to file formally opens on Monday and runs through 5 p.m. Friday.

Aside from Hersey’s District 7 seat, other open positions cover the Central Area and Montlake (District 5, currently represented by Michelle Sarju); downtown and Queen Anne (District 4, represented by Joe Mizrahi); and Magnolia/Ballard/Green Lake (District 2, now represented by Sarah Clark). Mizrahi and Clark were appointed to abbreviated terms to fill two empty seats on the board last spring. Both have indicated plans to run and retain them.

Admittedly, the job is daunting. It demands long hours of puzzling over policy, reading reports and scouring budgets while being available to any community member who has a complaint or idea for improving local schools.

Or that’s what it should entail. Current board leaders have jettisoned many of those duties, abdicating financial stewardship of a $1.2 billion budget to staff, shutting out many community voices and losing public trust in the process.

The results have been catastrophic. Seattle Public Schools has posted $100 million deficits three years in a row, as enrollment sags and gaps in academic performance between different student groups remain among the widest in the nation.

But crises sometimes prompt reform. The best thing to emerge from last fall’s upheaval around the proposed closure of 21 schools was a reinvigoration of families demanding a greater say in the direction of their public schools. It was heartening to see.

Parents also realized, collectively, that many of them possess expertise on budgeting, data analysis and leadership that could be leveraged, rather than pushed to the sidelines. The Seattle School Board is in dire need of their skills.

Here’s hoping the spirit galvanized last fall results in many more people stepping up now to lend their brainpower and heart to redirecting Seattle Public Schools.