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| A screenshot from the district’s website shows Echo Lake Elementary School and the school’s mascot: the Eagles. Echo Lake Elementary will not be closed next year. |
By Oliver Moffat
An advisory committee will not recommend that the Shoreline school district close Echo Lake Elementary next year - it was one of four schools on a list of schools still being considered for possible closure. Next week, the committee will meet to decide whether to recommend the district close Brookside, Highland Terrace or Syre Elementary.
Earlier this year, the district assembled the School Capacity Review and Closure Consideration task force to recommend which of the district’s ten elementary schools the School Board and Superintendent Dr. Susana Reyes could close next year.
Earlier this year, the district assembled the School Capacity Review and Closure Consideration task force to recommend which of the district’s ten elementary schools the School Board and Superintendent Dr. Susana Reyes could close next year.
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| The current nine elementary school boundaries |
The task force spared Meridian Park, Cascade K-8, Parkwood and Briarcrest in May and Lake Forest Park and Ridgecrest were removed from closure consideration in June. Echo Lake Elementary was spared by the task force at an October 1 meeting. A final recommendation is due by the October 29 School Board Meeting.
Facing a budget emergency, the Shoreline School Board approved a budget this year with a deficit of over $4 million. The district estimates closing an elementary school will save about $1.2 to $1.3 million per year and forecasts it will deplete its unreserved funds next year.
Although closing a school may be necessary to balance the budget, it will likely be insufficient because teacher and staff compensation accounts for 87% of the district’s $182 million budget.
Under state law, the district would enter “binding conditions” if it depletes its unreserved funds as forecasted. At that point, all expenditures would need to be approved by the state but the district could borrow against future revenues to keep operating.
Schools across the state are facing budget shortfalls, laying off staff and closing schools. In a letter to Governor Inslee, Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal said “no matter how you look at the numbers, Washington currently underfunds K–12 education by around $4 billion per year.”
Despite the McCleary decision, in which the state Supreme Court ordered the Legislature to increase funding for schools, Washington still lags behind other states in adequately funding K-12 education.
Under state law, the district would enter “binding conditions” if it depletes its unreserved funds as forecasted. At that point, all expenditures would need to be approved by the state but the district could borrow against future revenues to keep operating.
In an emailed response to questions directed to the school board, a spokesperson said, “Under Washington State law, districts have extremely limited ability to increase revenues.
"Meaningful budget increases can only be provided by the state legislature... Without the ability to raise revenues at the district level the only option available to balance the budget is to make additional reductions.”
Schools across the state are facing budget shortfalls, laying off staff and closing schools. In a letter to Governor Inslee, Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal said “no matter how you look at the numbers, Washington currently underfunds K–12 education by around $4 billion per year.”
Despite the McCleary decision, in which the state Supreme Court ordered the Legislature to increase funding for schools, Washington still lags behind other states in adequately funding K-12 education.
According to School Financial Data, relative to Washington’s economic output, the state spends less to fund public schools than the national average. A November ballot measure (2109) if approved by voters would repeal the state’s capital gains tax, which collects up to $500 million per year for schools.
Once home to three high schools, five junior highs and nineteen elementary schools with nearly 18,000 students at its peak, the Shoreline School District has shrunk to just over 9,000 students.
Once home to three high schools, five junior highs and nineteen elementary schools with nearly 18,000 students at its peak, the Shoreline School District has shrunk to just over 9,000 students.
The district last closed schools in 2007 when North City Elementary and Sunset Elementary were shuttered. The district owns at least seven properties that once housed schools including the Shoreline Center, North City Elementary, Cedarbrook Elementary, Aldrecrest, Sunset Park and Paramount Park.
Under Washington State law, districts can sell or rent surplus school property - including for affordable housing - but requires the proceeds be spent on nonrecurring expenses such as buildings, facilities, alternative energy, and technology upgrades (but not teacher salaries).
Information on how to attend a school board meeting and how to participate in the legislative process is available on the district’s website. Parents can follow the Shoreline PTA Council legislative committee for up to date information.
Information on how to attend a school board meeting and how to participate in the legislative process is available on the district’s website. Parents can follow the Shoreline PTA Council legislative committee for up to date information.
The Shoreline School District is contemplating a school closure on the premise that eliminating about 10 staff positions and the utility costs from the closed school will save $1.4M per year. But they don’t consider that some of these staff positions will be needed at the schools that receive the displaced students - custodians, nurses, counselors, family advocates, librarians, food service staff, office staff, etc. and they also fail to consider that a closed school will necessarily remain connected to utilities and will still require maintenance and upkeep. They can’t just turn off the heat and lights and disconnect a school from water and sewer. So the actual amount saved will be much less than the $1.4M figure that’s being used as a decision-making factor. The District also has not evaluated the impact of families that will leave the District as a result of a closure and the funding that they will lose as a result, or the costs associated with moving hundreds of displaced students to other schools who then may be forced to displace their students to make room. At best, closing a school appears to be cost neutral, but likely will have a negative impact on the District’s budget. If there were multiple schools operating at half capacity, a case could be made to consolidate underutilized facilities but that is not the case currently in Shoreline and LFP. Closing any one school results in children being dispersed among 3 or 4 other schools and a domino effect where the existing students are then displaced to make room. For all of these reasons, a school closure needlessly destroys multiple communities and harms children, teachers, and staff for little or no benefit.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. It would be very difficult on the kids if any school closes. In particular for those kids who started kindergarten in 2020 during COVID who would be having to switch schools in their final year of elementary school.
DeleteAt the end of the day this is a business decision. Shoreline School District has fiscal responsibilities and to pretend otherwise is to ignore reality. The kids I went to school with in Shoreline all got shuffled around. I went to Paramount Park, then Meridian Park, Cordell Hull JH, Butler Jr high, Shoreline HS. Boundaries have always changed. Schools have opened and closed. It will be OK.
ReplyDeletePresently, we have overcrowded fifth grade classrooms at MP and other schools in the district. Presently, we have high utility costs keeping the massive Shoreline Center building open for the administrative staff. Presently, we have several superfluous administrative staff positions that easily could be eliminated without having a noticeable impact on day-to-day teaching in the schools. Closing a school without examining the wasteful spending currently taking place at Shoreline Center is a mistake.
ReplyDeleteThere has yet to be any real examination on why so many families left our district during and after the Covid period. If families are leaving because of disruptive behaviors impacting instruction and learning growth, why not focus on turning that around?
Regarding families who would leave the Shoreline School District, or choose not to move here, if an elementary school is closed, the District receives about $20,000 per elementary student. If the families of 75 students left the District (or didn’t come here) that would more than wipe out the $1.4M savings the District projects as a result of closing a school, which as mentioned above is an overly optimistic estimate of the cost savings. A closure would directly impact the 350-450 students at the school that is closed and would also impact the 350-550 students at each of the 3 or 4 schools that receive the displaced students, many of whom would then be displaced themselves and experience reduced services. Communities will be destroyed, class sizes will be increased, teacher-student ratios will be decreased, travel times on school buses and transportation costs will rise, and many students will no longer be able to walk to school. Therefore, a school closure & boundary adjustment negatively impacts at least four or five schools and at least 1,750 to 2,250 students. It’s conceivable that a school closure & boundary adjustments will encourage the families of more than 75 students to leave the District or choose not to move to Shoreline or Lake Forest Park. Families are attracted to this area, in part, for the schools. The community, the governments of both cities, and the Shoreline School District should be attracting more families to the District and advocating for adequate funding from the State Legislature. Closing schools, increasing class sizes, and decreasing resources for students and families will encourage families to choose other school districts (e.g. Northshore, Edmonds, and Lake Washington) or private schools over Shoreline, and the declining enrollment and negative impacts to school funding will be accelerated.
ReplyDeleteAgreed that the Shoreline School District needs to make business decisions, but if closing an elementary school will result in a negative impact to the District’s budget then why do it? School districts are funded by the State and closing schools will only chase away the families, and funding, that we need to be attracting.
ReplyDeleteCompetition is what is chasing away families. taxes are chasing away families. it is much cheaper to buy or rent in Snohomish county.
DeleteThe Shoreline School District needs to balance its budget. If we think things are bad now, it will be so much worse if the District is placed under Binding Conditions by the OSPI. A decision to close a school must be thoroughly evaluated to understand exactly how much would be saved, but they’ve already decided that a closure is feasible and now need to make a choice that will save the most money while preserving as much revenue as possible (multi-language learner funding, federal free & reduced-price lunch, etc.). Yes, this situation is sad, but kicking the can down the road (as the Seattle Schools have done) is unsustainable. Families need to contemplate that binding conditions are the first step on a very short road to dissolution of a school district and consolidation with neighboring districts if they don’t balance their budget.
ReplyDelete