Seattle leaders speak out against attack on democratically-elected school board
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - January 26, 2015
Contact: Robert Cruickshank (831) 402-2365
Seattle leaders speak out against attack on democratically-elected school board
Broad opposition forms to plan to allow mayor to appoint school board members
SEATTLE - Parents, teachers, and community leaders spoke out today against a new bill proposed in the state legislature that would erode democratic control of the Seattle Public Schools. House Bill 1497, sponsored by Representative Eric Pettigrew of Seattle, would eliminate two of the seven - nearly 30 percent - of the elected board positions and replace them with mayoral appointees.
These community leaders charge this proposal would weaken taxpayer oversight of Washington’s public schools. They point out it would take away public and parent power over critical school policies and hiring decisions, giving it to unelected political appointees, and flies in the face of evidence from across the nation that children of color fare worse in districts with appointed school boards. Critics of the proposed bill also view it as a potential effort to sidestep public opposition to charter schools and increased standardized testing.
"This proposal is an affront to democracy," said Sue Peters, member of the Seattle School Board. "School board members are the democratically elected representatives of the public in public education. Efforts such as mayoral control or appointments usurp the role and voice of the public. This would also consolidate too much power in the hands of one person -- the mayor, who already has enough on his or her plate with the numerous responsibilities associated with running the city. It has been highly controversial and not very successful elsewhere it has been imposed.
"Furthermore, it is the state Legislature -- not local school boards -- that has been found by the Washington Supreme Court to be violating the state constitution for failing to meet its paramount duty of fully funding public education,” added Peters. "That makes Olympia a far more obvious place to focus the change that is needed in order to properly serve the students of Washington's public schools, which rank near the bottom nationally in per-pupil funding."
"Locally elected school boards are a cornerstone of our democracy," said Demian Godon, parent of two students at Ballard High School and the legislative chair of that school's Parent Teacher Association. "As a parent, I want a school board that's accountable to families and communities and that's only possible when they're elected. Appointed board members would be susceptible to favoritism and could not be held accountable by the voters. That's too great a risk for our public schools."
"The purpose of education is to empower young people to help solve problems in their community and their society. This proposal would disempower students and their parents, with the worst effects being felt in communities of color," said Jesse Hagopian, teacher at Garfield High School and author of the recently published book More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing. "As we’ve seen elsewhere, appointed school board members feel no obligation to the communities they serve, and are not accountable. Virtually every appointed school board in the United States serves populations that have primarily African-American and Latino children, a clear message that it is a move to control black and brown populations by limiting their democratic input. The idea that black lives matter has captured the imagination of a new generation, and that sentiment must extend to black families having input into their children's education. This legislation is written to impact only Seattle, the city that serves the highest number of students of color in the state."
"The only reason to remove elected school board members is to forcibly impose policies that everyone knows the public does not want," said Robert Cruickshank, president of the Northwest Progressive Institute and a former Senior Communications Advisor to former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. "Seattle voters overwhelmingly opposed the 2012 charter school initiative and have elected school board members who want our schools to move beyond a focus on standardized tests and support teachers in overcrowded classrooms. Yet the City of Seattle has given Families and Education Levy money to charter schools, and mandates that schools administer additional standardized tests in exchange for receiving Levy dollars. That track record should make voters extremely wary about giving the City more power over our schools."
"A much better reform to improve our school board would be to pay board members as full-time public servants," said Kathleen Smith, Seattle Public Schools parent, "Rep. Reuven Carlyle’s new bill, HB 1665, would do exactly that. The Legislature should follow that path and reject HB 1497."
HB 1497 would allow the mayor of any city with more than 400,000 residents - currently only Seattle fits this criteria - to appoint two of the seven school board members in that city, one in 2018 and one in 2020. The bill does not require these appointees to be confirmed by the City Council, nor does it provide for a recall process for these appointees.
“Appointed board members in other cities have closed neighborhood schools in communities of color despite widespread public opposition, imposed charter schools, added more standardized tests, and conducted mass teacher firings,” said Steve Nesich, legislative chair of the Loyal Heights Parent Teacher Association. “All of this disruption and divisiveness has failed to produce meaningful improvements in student learning. No wonder parents in those cities are clamoring for a return to elected school boards. Seattle should not repeat this mistake."
Evidence from across the country has found that appointing school board members does not improve student learning or close achievement gaps:
• A 2011 report by the University of Chicago found that racial disparities in test scores grew wider in Chicago since the school board became appointed by the mayor, with Latino and African American students seeing the worst effects. http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Trends_CPS_Full_Report.pdf
• A 2012 analysis by the parent organization Class Size Matters found that African American and Latino students in New York City scored worse in 2011 than in 2003, the year that Mayor Michael Bloomberg began appointing school board members. http://www.classsizematters.org/nyc-second-to-last-among-cities-in-student-progress-on-the-naeps-since-2003/
• A 2013 study by Bolder, Broader Approach to Education found that while test scores increased and achievement gaps shrank in most large urban districts over the past decade, scores stagnated for low-income and minority students and/or achievement gaps widened in cities where school board members are appointed. http://www.epi.org/files/2013/bba-rhetoric-trumps-reality.pdf
• The National Education Policy Center debunked several claims in favor of mayoral governance of school districts in a 2013 study: http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2013/04/review-mayoral-governance

• A June 2014 study by the Center for Public Education found that when mayors take charge of public schools, the role of parents and the community, especially among minority groups, can be marginalized and can further compromise democratic control of schools http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Policies/Mayoral-involvement-in-urban-schools
More background:
• Parents Across America-Seattle co-founder Dora Taylor’s analysis of HB 1497 and its backers: https://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2015/01/22/bill-1497-looks-like-mayor-murray-wants-to-run-the-school-district-now/
• Chicago parents organized to demand a return to an elected school board: https://sites.google.com/site/codechicago/
###
