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| Parents from Syre, Highland Terrace and Brookside wait to hear which of the three schools will be chosen for closure - photo by Oliver Moffat |
By Oliver Moffat
A task force will recommend the district close Highland Terrace Elementary next year.
At an October 15 meeting, while parents watched from a nearby assembly room, the School Capacity Review and Closure Consideration task force voted to remove Syre Elementary and Brookside Elementary from further consideration for closure and will recommend the school board close Highland Terrace Elementary at the October 22, School Board Meeting.
The district will hold two public hearings about the closure: one December 4th at Highland Terrace and another later in January.
To redraw the elementary school boundaries, the district is assembling a new Boundaries Committee that will meet starting in November through the end of January. Information on the Boundaries Committee and information on how to apply is available on the district’s website.
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| A map from the Shoreline school district website shows the current nine elementary school boundaries |
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 and is once again facing budget shortfalls. Shoreline has a long history of closing schools dating back to the end of the baby boom more than fifty years ago. The last time Shoreline went through this painful process was in 2006 when the district shuttered North City Elementary and Sunset Elementary.
Elementary School Closures in the Shoreline School District (Closure Year):
- Hamlin Park Elementary (1965)
- Cedarbrook Elementary (1971)
- Cromwell Park Elementary (1971)
- Paramount Park School (1971)
- Richmond Beach Elementary (1971)
- Ronald Elementary (1971)
- Aldercrest Elementary (1982)
- Hillwood Elementary (1982)
- Horizon View Elementary (1982)
- Meridian Elementary (1982)
- North City Elementary (2007)
- Sunset Elementary (2007)
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.
The final decision on whether to close a school and if so, which one, is entirely up to the elected School Board and Superintendent Dr. Susana Reyes. The closure decision and any new school boundaries is expected to be finalized in time for Kindergarten open enrollment in January of 2025.
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.
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.
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.”
The local chapter of the Washington Educators Association will be hosting an Education Funding Crisis Town Hall on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, from 6 - 7:30pm at Edmonds-Woodway High School. Legislators from the 1st, 21st, 32nd, 44th and 45th legislative districts have been invited.
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.
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.
Information on how to attend a school board meeting and submit public comment is available on the district’s website.
Corrections: Dates were corrected in the beginning of the article.
What's closing on the administrative level? Or, are we going to keep heating those big hallways and rooms at Shoreline Center with no reduction of force?
ReplyDeleteThis is not an accurate headline. The task force isn’t recommending the district close HT. They just picked a candidate for consideration.
ReplyDeleteSo where are those kids supposed to go? Squeezed in like sardines at MP, Parkwood, Echo Lake (which desperately needs a remodel) and Syre? What about the sped program?
ReplyDeleteHey, how about we put all of the marijuana money towards education like Colorado, Oregon, and Nevada? The state collected over $559 million in legal marijuana income and license fees in 2021, according to the Washington State Treasurer. $520,000 of it went to education. That's ridiculous.
ReplyDelete“However, the word "education" does not explicitly refer to schools.
DeleteThe state liquor and cannabis board said the tax revenue has always primarily been dedicated to healthcare, public awareness campaigns and research.
"Education" may refer to money for the Department of Health to do a public education campaign.
So yes, schools get a little money from the marijuana tax, but it was never intended to fund schools.
The Washington State Legislature can decide how to spend marijuana revenue, as long as it follows the original intent of the initiative.
Right now, the biggest chunk of money goes to helping the state pay for the cost of healthcare for low-income families.”
Schools are having budgetary problems because they have fewer students. The state pays per student therefore they have to downsize. Raising taxes so every school can stay open is not a sustainable plan. Taxes in King County especially are already too high.
ReplyDelete