After a delay in the start of the school year due to teacher strikes, Seattle has finally gotten a new contract in place for the district’s funding. But it’s not exactly a neat and tidy solution.
Here are Five Fast Facts about the new school district operating fund agreement:
- 📈 💰The Broad Brushstrokes - The District and the teacher’s union have voted in agreement on a contract that requires $231 million more in funding over a three year contract. The increases will be used for additional staff (like social workers, nurses, mental health counselors, speech specialists) and salary increases. It’s easy to see why they like it, right?
- 🏫 🗳️The Results - About ⅔ of the union members voted, passing the agreement easily with 71% of teachers and staff, 66% of aides, and 82% of office workers. No surprise, as these folks are the ones likely to get those raises!
- ❓The BIG Questions - The agreement doesn’t indicate how it will cover some big budget shortages in the last two years of the contract. If student enrollment continues to decline (it’s happened six years in a row now), the shortages will be even worse. Well, this doesn’t paint a pretty picture of the future.
- 😡The Critics - Not everyone is happy about this deal. Critics point out that the school system is no longer a good steward of taxpayer money, and predict that supporters will do an end run around the agreement by complaining in the next legislative session about a lack of funding, getting more money from the state then. Might not be as bad as a surly teen, but that seems just a wee bit manipulative to us.
- 👎The Problem - Critics claim the administration is “bloated and top-heavy.” Seattle spent about $14k per student in 2016. Under the new agreement, it’s spending about $22k per student, and only 47% of employees are teachers. Only Jabba the Hut would define that as lacking in bloat!
🔥Bottom line: While we’re definitely big fans of teachers – a historically underpaid profession – getting better Paychecks, we’re not convinced this is the right way to do it. Planning to fail just so you can whine about the failure and then be saved by the state isn’t the right way to solve problems. You can do better, Seattle!
What do you think about this? Is Seattle’s school system bloated with administration, or is there another issue going on here?
Guess what? The President doesn't impact school district budgets...but your local & state government reps do! Here’s three small things you can do that make a BIG impact:
