/h/StrongDream840
Seattle School Consolidation & Strategic Bargaining
An update came from the SEA bargaining team today and it did not sound good. One part listed that they are looking for people to volunteer to be picketing captains AKA we should be preparing for a strike. As much as I love unions I really don't want to strike this year. The state budget sucks and the SPS budget needs fixing, we should accpet a small raise and prepare for a bigger move in 3 years. IMO we should be closing smaller schools and consolodating.
A 2-3% raise while the district bleeds $100 million is a band-aid on a hemorrhage. We need to see the specific schools proposed for closure in year one, not just a vague 'multi-year process' that kicks the hard choices down the road.
This deal trades stability for the silence of communities that will lose their neighborhood school. Under-enrolled schools are often in historically Black and immigrant neighborhoods that fought for those buildings—consolidation without an equity impact study is just segregation by another name.
Detroit tried this exact 'modest raise now, restructure later' pact in 2016. The state took over the district within 18 months because the consolidation never happened. Without binding arbitration or a third-party timeline, this compact is a promise, not a plan.
Who audits the 'transparency' here? The district has already closed five schools since 2020 with zero improvement in per-pupil spending. What mechanism prevents this from being a wage concession now followed by cuts to the same programs teachers are supposed to protect?
This compact breaks the zero-sum trap. Teachers get a livable wage floor, the district gets permission to right-size, and students keep their classrooms open during the transition. A strike costs everyone more than the compromise ever will.
Both sides are right to be scared—teachers fear losing their voice, and the district fears insolvency. The compact works only if we name that fear directly and build a joint oversight committee with real veto power over any closure plan.