Why Governance Matters to School Districts

As a parent, you want your child to have a safe, enriching, and high-quality education. You assume the school board and district leaders have a process to make decisions to reach that goal on behalf of all students. Yet in recent years, Seattle has seen the District and School Board make decisions that don’t make sense and don’t represent the best interests of our children.

Consider these recent examples in SPS:

• Inconsistent policies and a lack of clear action on school safety have left parents and students feeling unprotected.

• The failed proposal for school closures was formulated without input from parents or teachers and ignored proven data. 

• The erosion of Advanced Learning and Highly Capable (HC) programs and services, despite a constitutional mandate to deliver these services.

• In the last several years, misguided enrollment practices have caused thousands of families to be turned away from their preferred neighborhood and option schools.

When decisions don’t make sense, it is often the way decisions are made that is at fault. If you’ve ever felt like your voice doesn’t matter in district decisions or that the board isn’t listening, the School Board’s current governance model is likely why.¹⁴

How to take action

SOFG is leading SPS down a failing path. Our students deserve better. Seattle families deserve a school board that listens to them, prioritizes holistic student success, and makes decisions with transparency and accountability. If we want better schools for our children, we must demand better governance.

NOTICE WHEN DECISIONS DON'T MAKE SENSE

• Learn how SOFG differs from other models used by school boards to make decisions that prioritize transparency, accountability, and community involvement. 

• Listen for SOFG terms such as “goals and guardrails,” “student outcomes,” and “adult behaviors.”⁴

CONTACT YOUR SCHOOL BOARD DIRECTOR

• Email or call your school board representatives and ask them to adopt a better way of making decisions. Urge them to prioritize real community engagement and student-centered policies beyond test scores. 

• Position opening up? Consider running¹⁶ and vote with SOFG in mind.

JOIN PARENT AND COMMUNITY ADVOCACY GROUPS

• Connect with organizations working to hold the school board accountable like All Together For Seattle Schools. 

• Join an advocacy group at your school, or create one. 

• Collaborate with other advocacy groups to amplify efforts.

PROVIDE TESTIMONY AT SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS

• Attend public meetings and voice concerns about how the board’s failed decision-making impacts your child’s education. 

• Demand transparency from the board about how decisions are being made and who is influencing them.

DEMAND FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY FROM SPS

• Request public records to find out how much SPS is spending on SOFG-related training, consultants, and implementation. 

• Demand transparency about why this money isn’t being invested in classrooms, student support services, or teacher salaries.

• View and add Public Records Requests (PRRs) at SPS by the Numbers, a community-made public archive.

ENGAGE WITH MEDIA AND POLICYMAKERS

• Help raise awareness by writing letters to state lawmakers, speaking with local media, writing op-eds, or sharing your concerns on social media.