OPINION | South End Students Deserve School Options Too

by Tammy Morales

Parents across South Seattle are fired up in opposition to Seattle Public Schools' (SPS) secretive decision to freeze waitlists for school choice applications.

I'm one of them.

I spoke at the April 23 school board meeting in support of moving school waitlists so our students can attend the public school of their choice. But I wasn't the first person to raise the issue this year. Cleveland High School students were already organized. Several of them attended and spoke at the March 19 school board meeting. They pointed out that district leaders dramatically reduced their projected enrollment, costing Cleveland 3.5 staff — eliminating important classes and programs offered there. Cleveland has capacity for 1,000 students, yet the district capped enrollment at 700, then placed 129 students on a waitlist. SPS has done the same thing to option schools across the city, freezing enrollment even when there is ample space for those students at their desired school.

Option schools are public schools that rely on the district's "Open Enrollment for School Choice" application process. This gives students a choice to prioritize a school that is not their designated neighborhood school, which is assigned based on a student's address. Option schools have programming that may better suit a student's specific needs or interests, such as American Sign Language support, STEM programming, or language immersion.

The South End has the most school choice applications of any part of the city. Neighbors clearly want to take advantage of the choices that the district says are available. Recent polling shows Seattle voters strongly agree that providing these options within the public school system is equitable.

Yet, SPS quietly decided that they are "limiting available choice seats at some option schools," according to an email sent out to families from the district's Enrollment Planning department. This decision was made without informing families until after the fact. SPS's stated reason is "to support and stabilize enrollment at nearby neighborhood schools that have experienced continuing enrollment declines."

This is hard to believe since SPS recently proposed closing nearly two dozen schools. In the original September closure list, SPS proposed closing nearly every option school serving students between grades K and 8, including Orca K–8.

This is not just about option schools. Nearly half of the district's school choice applications came from families wanting their student to attend a different neighborhood school. Their reasons vary. Some families want to keep siblings together. Some immigrant families want to keep children in extended family networks at the same school. Other families feel their student would be better served at a different school for reasons specific to that child.

Rather than rebuild broken public trust after abandoning these unpopular closure plans, the district is aggravating the distrust by blocking school choice requests. They are threatening to conduct a slow and steady closure of these schools.

The district is saying "no" to South End families who want access to public school options in our neighborhood. Families make decisions about what best supports the learning needs of their children. The district's new policy bars us from doing so, without our input or consent.

SPS states that they are limiting seats at "some" schools. But they won't tell us which ones. It may be the case that our community's schools are being disproportionately harmed by the district's new policy.

At the end of last summer, 2,700 students were left on waitlists. Some 400 students left SPS entirely when they did not get their preferred choice — costing the district as much as $12 million in state and local education funding this school year. While the district does not track where students go, we know the number of families who left the district for this reason doubled between 2023 and 2024.

Here's what SPS needs to do in order to address the harm their policies have caused:

First, the district must move the waitlists. This will go a long way toward rebuilding public trust, growing enrollment, and meeting student needs. Prioritize student and family needs, not what central office planners want. The school board must provide oversight to ensure this happens.

Second, the district must commit to keeping its option schools open, and expanding their availability in the South End. STEM and other programs are an important opportunity to access high-quality public education. Pushing kids away, keeping them on a waitlist for reasons that are unclear just means their families are more likely to look to charter schools or other school districts.

Finally, it's time for a new student assignment plan. Our neighborhood school boundaries have not substantially changed in 10 years. Yet our communities have changed dramatically in that time. The way we plan for staffing, assign students to schools, and process choice applications can be improved and made more transparent and equitable. SPS must commit to working with families, especially here in South Seattle, rather than making another important decision about us without us.

The school board's next Community Engagement meeting is Wednesday, May 7, 5:30–7:30 p.m. at Daniel Bagley Elementary in Fremont. South End families are encouraged to attend if possible.

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Tammy Morales is a parent to a Cleveland senior and an advocate for equitable access to resources for families in the South End. Tammy Morales previously served as a Seattle City Councilmember for District 2.