SEATTLE — The belated decision by Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones to scrap the school closures plan came much to the relief of parents, a stark contrast to the emotions they felt the previous two months of fighting the plan.
“It felt like they might actually be listening to us,” said Allison Augustyne, advocacy chair for the Stevens Elementary School PTA, one of the schools slated for closure.
The ever-evolving plan began with the shuttering of 20 schools, then dropped to 16 schools, down to four, and finally none.
The genesis: A $94 million shortfall in the district budget SPS says is due to several factors. Closing four schools would have saved an estimated $5.5 million, said Superintendent Jones.
“It is clear there is no longer a pathway for this approach for the 2025-26 school year,” he said in a letter to parents on Monday.
Augustyne has felt like the whole process has kept parents out.
“We haven’t had a lot of transparency from the district or information or accountability or the decision to come up from these efforts that have just happened seemed improbable,” she said.
The district is now looking for other options, including changing bell schedules to save transportation costs, cutting staff at the district office, advocating for a pair of levies in the fall, and lobbying state lawmakers for increased state funding that has dropped as a proportion of the state’s budget.
“Certainly some of the answer lies with our legislature, but we’ve got to get our act together. We have to be worthy of their investment,” said Nancy Bacon, one of the people opposing the closure.
On Tuesday night, the school board formally and unanimously approved the withdrawal of the plan, but warned it’s only scrapped for the 2025-26 school year.
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