Podcast Co-hosts Christie and Jasmine discuss the April 9th, 2025 school board meeting where the board reviewed proposals from executive search firms and started the process of choosing who will help them hire the next superintendent. 

See our extensive Show Notes.

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As budget negotiations reach their final phase, we recap where the Big 3 bills—special education, transportation, and MSOC—stand and what’s still on the table. We also reflect on the highs, lows, and hard lessons of the past 12 weeks, and talk about what advocacy looks like when progress comes one rung at a time. If you’re feeling frustrated or burned out, this one’s for you.

See our extensive Show Notes.

- Megan Larkin and Christie Robertson

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We shine the community spotlight on the Southeast Seattle Schools Fundraising Alliance (SESSFA) and their annual Move-a-Thon — a creative fundraising event that supports 17 public schools in Southeast Seattle. Guest Heather Hart explains how the Move-a-Thon got started, what it looks like at different schools, and the unique equity-based model used to distribute the funds raised.

You’ll hear how Move-a-Thon dollars go toward everything from snacks and field trips to interpreters and library books—and how it’s helping to build stronger, more connected school communities. Mercer Middle School PTA Vice President Arthitaya Katayama shares firsthand how the funds are impacting her school.

Learn more or donate: sessfa.org 

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Debbie Carlsen introduces "Learning Together," a free training series for prospective school board director candidates. Debbie shares her experience as a former candidate and explains how Champions for Educational Empowerment created this program to help potential board members understand both campaign strategies and board responsibilities. The series covers district organizations, board roles, governance models, budget fundamentals, and campaign tactics specific to Seattle School Board races.

Upcoming sessions include 

• Student Outcomes Focused Governance (April 9)
• Budget Fundamentals (April 19)
• Campaign Strategies (April 23)

Registration is still open. Sign up for the Champions for Educational Empowerment training series

Each person's opinion is their own.

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Budget Land

Last week was action-packed with House and Senate budgets dropping last Monday as we were preparing our Week 11 episode. Since then, both budgets have been heard and exec’d out of their fiscal committees, and the Senate budget bill SB 5167 was passed off the Senate and passed off the House floor as this episode was being prepared for publication. The House introduced a “striking amendment” that removed the contents of the Senate bill and replaced it with the contents of the House bill HB 1198. This conflict will form the basis of the remaining negotiations, which will probably mostly take place out of public view. See our comprehensive show notes for some great comparison tables provided by education advocacy groups.

Bill Land

Our two remaining education funding bills - SB 5192 for Materials, Supplies, and Operating Costs and SB 5263 for Special Education - are still waiting for a vote in the House Appropriations committee. 

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See our comprehensive show notes

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Seattle's school board kicked off the superintendent search process on March 25th following Dr. Brent Jones' announced departure, authorizing President Gina Topp to begin seeking proposals from search firms under an ambitious timeline targeting a September appointment. Board members expressed hesitancy over the rapid pace, with Directors Sarju, Rankin, and Hersey advocating for an interim superintendent to allow for a more thorough search, especially considering four board seats are up for election this fall. All agreed to proceed with taking the next step toward hiring a superintendent search firm, while keeping options open. This search unfolds against a backdrop of significant challenges including budget deficits, failed school closure proposals, and eroding community trust, with Seattle averaging just three years per superintendent over the past two decades.-- Christie Robertson

Episode updated March 27 9:40am - Thanks for a listener for letting us know that the North Shore superintendent search is still in progress - https://www.nsd.org/our-district/leadership/superintendent-search

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Bill Land

We update listeners on our two remaining education funding bills - SB 5192 for Materials, Supplies, and Operating Costs and SB 5263 for Special Education). These bills have now had a hearing and are waiting for a vote in the House Appropriations committee. We highlight powerful testimony including Bellevue School District's announcement that they'll face "binding conditions" (educational bankruptcy) without additional funding. 

Budget Land

We take you on a welcome tour of "Budget Land" to give you an orientation to Washington State's budget-adoption process. House and Senate Budgets dropped as we were preparing this episode. Hearings and exec will all happen in a super-compressed timeline before we see you for week 12. 

See our Show Notes for contacts and templates to reach out to Appropriations committee members, as well as a freeset of digital green-tinted glasses.

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We continue our series introducing candidates running for Seattle School Board in 2025. In this episode, we're joined by Landon Labosky, who is running for the District 5 seat currently held by Michelle Sarju. Labosky discusses his background working with young people, his views on school board governance, collaboration with city and county agencies, addressing operational issues, and his approach to educational equity and potential school closures. He also answers questions from Garfield student Rafael Brewer and from our Student School Board Directors Colin Bragg, Sabi Yoon, and Safiya Ilyas. The primary election is in August, and the general election follows in November. 

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The district's sudden reversal on Highly Capable programming was the big news at the March 12 school board meeting, with strong commitments from Dr Torres-Morales for a definitive plan by April 1. Testimony also covered option school waitlists and the possible loss of the SPS LGBTQ+ program coordinator. Progress monitoring on career readiness, and an update on the upcoming strategic plan were followed by a fascinating Progress Monitoring training session run by AJ Crabill of the Council of Great City Schools. In community notes, we cover school board training being run by community groups. At a recent panel, one director panelist candidly advised: "If you have a high need to be liked, don't do this gig." It’s not too fun to be a superintendent either, and Superintendent Jones has announced his departure from Seattle Public Schools.

• Christie Robertson & Jasmine Pulido

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Will our education bills survive the House Appropriations committee? Senate bills 5192 (MSOC) and 5263 (Special Education) survived the Senate with enough umph to still be worth our advocacy. But now face the committee that previously slashed a $600 per student increase to just $5.55. We reveal which representatives hold the red pens, how to make your voice heard (e.g. sign in pro!) at the crucial March 19th hearing (watch here, 4pm Wednesday), and get real-world town hall advocacy wisdom from high schooler Rafael Brewer, who went toe-to-toe with legislators at the rowdy 43rd district town hall. Plus, we enter "Budget Land" as the final revenue forecast drops - what will this mean for education funding?

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