Seattle schools should give families reasons to stay

Public schools are the bedrock for building capable future citizens and an equitable society. But in Seattle, a city that thrives on innovation and excellence, our own school district is weakening our public schools and eroding public trust through their attempts to eliminate what works and harmful manipulation of enrollment policies.

The Seattle district currently supports a range of student learning styles and needs by operating a diversity of neighborhood and alternative schools/programs. Alternative programs provide dual language immersion; schools for K-8; dedicated classrooms for medically fragile and deaf/hard of hearing students; a focus on STEM; highly capable cohorts; advanced/above grade-level curriculum and more. These programs are in strong demand, as evidenced by waitlists during open enrollment. Yet last fall, SPS attempted to eliminate most of these programs, stating that enrollment had dropped so much due to declining birthrates that one in four elementary schools in the district must close. Neither SPS nor the School Board questioned whether the decline had multiple causes.

To understand why students are leaving SPS, the Legislature funded an enrollment study that surveyed 1,420 families. The results show that not only are 25.4% of K-12 Seattle students enrolled in private schools, second only to San Francisco among large U.S. cities, but only half of all Seattle kindergartners enroll in SPS, a shocking 25% decrease over only 12 years. Additionally, among those surveyed, 58% of parents/guardians of current SPS students have considered disenrolling, and 52% of former SPS students who were disenrolled left over concerns about the rigor and quality of the district curriculum and teaching. The study also flagged the worrisome fact that students of color are leaving SPS at higher rates, while state data shows small but increasing numbers of South Seattle students enrolling in charter schools. In other words, many Seattle families are seeking enrollment in private schools, charter schools and even nearby public school districts — anywhere but SPS. Why? Here are two reasons.

SPS has been manipulating enrollment and capacity in neighborhood and option schools without transparency, refusing to enroll more than 600 K-5 and K-8 students in schools other than their assigned neighborhood schools last year. Why would a district that claims it must close schools due to lower enrollment deliberately not enroll students at the school their family determined best met their needs? The district’s opaque enrollment policies even denied students the ability to attend the same school as their siblings.

The district is also pursuing decisions that deepen concerns about its educational quality and rigor. SPS previously offered multiple paths for elementary and middle school students to increase their education beyond grade-level standards, including elementary school Walk to Math, advanced middle school math classes (e.g., algebra and geometry) and highly capable cohort schools. These paths were nearly eliminated in favor of a districtwide ban on teaching curriculum that is above grade level and a neighborhood highly capable service model the board admits is “not happening.” These self-defeating decisions have left SPS unable to meet its legal obligation to provide a basic education for highly capable students and vulnerable to a lawsuit. 

If SPS’ current enrollment losses continue, it won’t be long before it attracts so few students that the financial viability of the district is threatened, making it nearly impossible to provide a quality education for the students who remain. If it is to thrive and fulfill its duty to educate the next generation of our city, SPS and its School Board must recognize that all Seattle students, particularly those in underserved communities, have a diversity of educational needs. Meeting those needs requires both the district and the board to immediately stop making decisions that accelerate the student exodus. Instead, SPS must focus on providing equitable access to educational options and proactively increasing enrollment, which will increase the funding and resources available for all.