Seattle Schools This Week, March 2-8, 2026

There are two meetings this week for the Superintendent and the Board, both are on Wednesday, March 4th. (I note that the next Board meeting is next Wednesday, March 11th; there is no agenda yet.)

The first one is an Executive Session at 4 pm, to review the performance of a public employee. Executive Sessions are not open to the public. 

The second meeting is a Board Special Meeting: Budget Work Session and a Work Session for Goals and Guardrails starting at 4:30 pm. 

The agenda for the second meeting only has a presentation for the Budget Work Session and it's quite interesting. The presenters will be Superintendent Ben Shuldiner and Dr. Kurt Buttleman, Assistant Superintendent of Finance.

 

Legislative

- The district notes that the state legislative session will end next week on March 12th. 

As of 2/24/26, anticipated changes in State funding for SPS: 

- Reduction of ~$1.1 million in bus depreciation reimbursement 

- Reduction in BEST grant program 

- Sales Tax exemption (~$2M assumed in budget deficit for 2026-27) 

- Other changes net to less than +/-$100k than anticipated in planning for 2026-27 

I'm a bit confused about the bus depreciation because I thought SPS didn't own buses. 

And are SPS and other school districts going to get that break on the sales tax? It doesn't look like it.

 

There's a page Annual Average FTE Change Summary.

It looks like the district is pretty steady-state except for a jump in K-8 at about 359 students which is the largest rise in number of students in any category. The category that is losing the most is the "non-traditional" one at 380. Does "non-traditional" mean Option Schools? If it does, I would find that hard to believe. 

They believe next year that there will be just over 48,000 students. 

 

On Open Enrollment:

It was held earlier than in previous years and families have now eceived their assignment notification. 

Currently 830 students remaining on waitlists for 2026-27. At this time last year, over 2,000 students were on waitlists.

 

The most fascinating page is Enrollment Change Overview (page 7).

It's tough to read this small chart but here are the "Outliers:"

Outliers 
+ Enrollment: Cleveland (+220), South Shore (+87), Hazel Wolf (+87), Thornton Creek (+84) 
 - Enrollment: Interagency (-102), Nathan Hale (-139), World School (-86), Cascade K-12 (-98), Garfield (-89) 

Did they finally allow Cleveland High to fill their underenrolled building? And for South Shore PK-8 that jump is good news as their large building has not been filled. Meanwhile Hazel Wolf continues to be popular. 

As for the lower enrollments, Interagency is a special program that always has swings. But Nathan Hale HS AND Garfield HS with lower enrollments? Oh my. World School could be seeing a loss because of the federal crackdown on immigrants. I'm a bit surprise at Cascade K-12 because I thought homeschooling was on the rise and they provide classes and services to those families. 

 

One big category - Educational Programs notes:

No program changes are being proposed at this time for 2026-2027.

 

For WWS model changes, the district says:

SPS is committed to ensuring that the changes to the WSS model on the following slide will not result in school staff losing employment with SPS. The district will manage these changes through attrition and displacement processes.  

 

WSS Changes for 2026-2027

You can see it for yourself on page 11. Highlights include:

- Align Grades K-3 with state funding model of 17.1.

- Increase Grades 4-5 staffing allocation model to 28:1.

- Increase Grades 6-12 staffing allocation model to 32:1. 

And there's this:

Reserve 35% of saving to fulfill the employment commitment. 

Are they saying take savings from these measures to keep people employed?

  

Central Office

- eliminate centrally funded vacant positions (by their count that's $4-5M!)

- restructuring/reorganizing JSCEE

- reduce professional development for subs

- travel reductions

- optional contracts (I don't know exactly what they are saying)

- Repurposing Self-help budgets (~$600k) 

- Inter-district reimbursement process updates 

- Culinary Services changes 

- Continue Furlough days for Non-represented staff (~ $600k) 

- Sun-setting previous Strategic Plan budget (~$1.5M)

 

Transportation

It appears they will change some routes and try to "leverage volume pricing" for vendor bus assignments.

 

Balancing the 2026-2027 Budget

o Transfer Capital Interest ($5M) 
o Delay Repayment of the “Rainy Day” Fund (Economic Stabilization Account) ($7M) 
o Inflation Reduction Act “tax credit” (~$5M) 
o Interfund Loan not utilized ($16M) 
o Current projection of unused fund balance available from 2025-26 Budget (~$10M - $20M) 
• If necessary: Reduce Fund Balance
 

They are STILL going to delay the repayment of the Rainy Day Fund. I really don't think fingers crossed is a good strategy and that's what this feels like. 

One the other hand, they are getting $5M from a "tax credit," aren't using all the Interfund Loan, and believe they will have $10-20M leftover from this year's budget? Hmm

 

Here's their bottom line for 2026-2027:

o School Staffing Changes ($9.5M) 
o Anticipated Central Office Changes (~$8M - $15M) 
o Transportation Changes (~$3.5M - $5.5M) 
o Anticipated Net change in State Funding from Legislature (-$1M)

Range of Solutions/Savings: $63M-$81.1M

 

I give them credit for understanding they need to go through JSCEE with a fine-tooth comb. This has been a long time coming. 

I know parents won't be happy with what looks like somewhat larger class sizes; I wish they could keep 4-8 grades smaller.