Seattle Public Schools has some enormous challenges — not least, widely divergent views among its seven school board directors about their role in guiding a system that educates some 51,000 students.
From $100 million budget deficits to slumping enrollment, gaping achievement gaps and ongoing questions about how to keep kids safe, any candidate for Seattle’s school board could be forgiven for overwhelm. But that’s the job.
And, happily, the seat representing District 5 — which includes the Central Area, Capitol Hill, Chinatown International District, First Hill, Leschi and Madison Park — has several capable, passionate candidates vying to win the primary next month.
The slate of five includes a veteran lawyer, a finance professional and a youth advocate focused on crime prevention. (A fourth candidate, Landon Labosky, declined to participate in an interview; another, Allycea Weil, missed The Times’ deadline for responding. And Vivian van Gelder bowed out of the race on Monday.)
Each of the three remaining has valuable skills. But Janis White, the attorney, wins The Times editorial board’s endorsement for her deep knowledge of special education and the law — areas of expertise the school board needs badly.
The cost of educating special-needs students has become a major driver of Seattle Public Schools’ ballooning budget problems, and White has the experience — both as a parent and attorney — to analyze whether its expenditures are producing results. Spoiler: No, they are not. What they are producing, in White’s view, is hefty legal settlements for families deprived of mandated services.
White says her first priority would be getting a handle on the district’s budget. She also wants to enlist parents as advisory analysts. (Several have already demonstrated their acumen, devoting hours to combing through spreadsheets and uncovering trends that district professionals seem to have overlooked.) This demonstrates welcome initiative and willingness to tap the community’s considerable brainpower, a refreshing change.
White is also forthright about the finite horizon for her work: “I don’t have any other political ambitions,” she told the editorial board.
This was perhaps a dig at opponent Vivian Song, who was previously a school board director. Bright and ambitious, Song holds a master’s degree in business from Harvard University and she knows how to dig for information. But while on the board, from 2021-2024, Song applied for an appointment to the Seattle City Council, suggesting a fickle commitment to schools. Soon after, it came to light that Song had moved out of the area she was elected to represent — without announcing that to constituents — and she resigned.
In a time when community trust in school board members is at a nadir, Song’s lack of transparency is not helpful.
Julissa Sanchez’s life history speaks to an entirely different corner of Seattle. She talks about growing up in the Central Area, experiencing gentrification and housing instability. She believes Seattle’s enrollment declines are due to lack of affordable housing. And she has a visceral understanding of what it means to be a parent who struggles to understand English. Her commitment to elevating the voices of youth — particularly around school safety — appears genuine and aligns with her work as director of advocacy at CHOOSE 180.
But the problems facing Seattle Public Schools demand someone with broader knowledge, especially around governance.
Four years ago, the Seattle School Board signed onto a management approach called Student Outcomes Focused Governance, which sounds fine. In practice, however, SOFG has sidelined the board. Under this model, its directors no longer dig into the nitty-gritty of the district’s $1.3 billion budget, leaving that to SPS’ staff.
Nor do board members get into the weeds of school safety because that, too, is not a “student outcome.”
White said she would vote to get rid of SOFG if given the chance (Song, too), which could change the balance of power on the Seattle School Board and, hopefully, augur brighter days ahead.
