We want to do all that we can to make sure the district is thinking about the HC cohort schools like Cascadia and Decatur as it handles potential boundary changes and school closures. Please help us by reaching out in the following ways:
- Email our state representatives:
Use this link to find out who your state representatives are:
https://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
You will have to email them through the state.gov website.
Form Email to State Reps:
I am writing as a concerned Seattle Public School parent, and I’m hoping you can help me.
First, I understand that the state has raised several more hundreds of millions of dollars from its recently implemented capital gains tax. I have also heard that several other local school districts have been asking the state for more funding from this tax windfall, but that Seattle Public Schools is not. Is this true? Our district is chronically underfunded given its size and complexity (e.g, it has a higher percentage of kids with special needs than the state funds), and I don’t understand why the school district would not at least try to get additional funding from this tax pool. If the district is not seeking this funding, they are letting down all families in Seattle. As our state rep, can you please do what you can to advocate for more funding for Seattle Public Schools?
Second, my child attends Cascadia Elementary, which is a HC (highly capable) cohort school. This means they are able to do math 2 years advanced and ELA one year advanced. My kids need this advancement and unfortunately their local school had no resources to give them any advanced work.
Cascadia currently has grades 1-5, next year the district is not having a HC cohort for grade 1, the plan was supposed to be that Cascadia would start welcoming neighborhood kids for kinder, but the Superintendent has delayed boundary changes and school closures which means Cascadia will have no neighborhood kids next year. This means the district has just cut an entire grade from our school next year. This is a brand new multi-million dollar school with capacity for over 600 kids. Cutting a grade is a huge waste of the capital investment in this school building, and will cause an artificial hole in the school’s budget.
Our school is getting lost in the shuffle as the Superintendent focuses more broadly on the plan for school closures and boundary changes. A plan should be in place so our school is not artificially losing grades before these boundary changes take effect – who knows how delayed these boundary changes will be?
I am hoping you will help by putting pressure on the Seattle Public School District to come up with a plan so Cascadia can have normal enrollment next year and beyond.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
- Also email our school board (we think it is worth emailing all of them not just your specific rep): liza.rankin@seattleschools.org, lisa.rivera.smith@seattleschools.org, vivian.song@seattleschools.org, mrsarju@seattleschools.org,
leslie.harris@seattleschools.org,brandon.hersey@seattleschools.org
Form Email to School Board
I am writing as a concerned Seattle Public School parent, and I’m hoping you can help me.
First, I understand that the state has raised several more hundreds of millions of dollars from its recently implemented capital gains tax. I have also heard that several other local school districts have been asking the state for more funding from this tax windfall, but that Seattle Public Schools is not. Is this true? Our district is chronically underfunded given its size and complexity (e.g, it has a higher percentage of kids with special needs than the state funds), and I don’t understand why the school district would not at least try to get additional funding from this tax pool. If the district is not seeking this funding, they are letting down all families in Seattle. As a school board representative, can you please do what you can to ensure the district is seeking additional funding from the capital gains tax?
Second, my child attends Cascadia Elementary, which as you know is a HC cohort school. Cascadia currently has grades 1-5, next year the district is not having a HC cohort for grade 1, the plan was supposed to be that Cascadia would start welcoming neighborhood kids for kinder, but the Superintendent has delayed boundary changes and school closures which means Cascadia will have no neighborhood kids next year. This means the district has just cut an entire grade from our school next year. This is a brand new multi-million dollar school with capacity for over 600 kids. Cutting a grade is a huge waste of the capital investment in this school building, and will cause an artificial hole in the school’s budget.
Who knows when boundary changes and school closures really will go into effect, this is a delicate and complex process. In the meantime, a plan should be in place so our school is not artificially losing grades before these boundary changes take effect. One option is consolidating Cascadia and Decatur. This would seem to make sense because Decatur is already very small (well under 200 kids) and will only get smaller next year with grade 1 being cut. Cascadia is large enough capacity wise it could be consolidated with Decatur for next year and also begin to take neighborhood students the following year IF boundary changes actually happen then. This seems much more efficient than continuing to keep Decatur and Cascadia separate if they are losing HC grades. I understand the issue of busing Decatur kids would need to be considered and negotiated but big picture this seems like the most sensible and efficient plan.
Regardless of whether this solution or some other solution can be found, please help by ensuring we are not forgotten. A plan should be in place so Cascadia has normal enrollment in the next few years while school closures/boundary changes are considered.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
