A. The role of the board is to have a laser-like focus on the preparation of the legislative action plan. We must meet with legislators on a continuous basis and share ideas and expectations. We must provide them data to make our case and visa-versa. The challenges that at one time were unique to Seattle now exist in other Washington cities and schools districts (e.g. Tukwila). We must work with the other districts to advocate together with a united voice.

B. We must be transparent in our budget process and show the gaps in funding. The budget process must be public and not filled with too many bureaucratic terms, education terminology, and technical terms. The Board needs to set standards for staff on how the Board wants to receive information.

A.) The board itself is not a lobbying force. But, it is our responsibility to make sure we have a strong voice in Olympia, as well as in our city, creating partnerships legislatively where possible. I have already reached out to several local city council members and numerous legislators (many of whom are endorsing me) to begin to create a relationship that can benefit our district in the future.

Any legislative liaison is a contracted entity, not a district employee. It does not seem apparent from either conversations I have had with former board members or the district website, exactly how this effort is directed. I would as a board member, propose policy to structure our lobbying efforts around succinct issues, such as early learning and extended day/year. We need to begin now to move towards what we know works and make sure we begin immediately supporting the process at the state level to change the law accordingly.

B.) The board’s role is to create policy that becomes a part of the culture of communication with all of our stakeholders. This is why we need to reach out to the community with aggressive communication tools to facilitate input and feedback on our ideas and issues LONG before a voting board meeting. It would be great to create a parent body or board that regularly meets with the school board to serve as a “go between” for this type of communication. As the board faces these kinds of challenges, the parent board could serve as a filter for all parent concerns as well as a communication provider to the community at large.

Community members need to understand the board is a policy making body, not a management body. But, policy can be created to address parent concerns about inconsistencies between state standards and SSD’s ability to fund certain curriculum on its own. There should not be any “gap” between our curriculum and college requirements either. As a board member, I would work with a GREAT sense of urgency to create policy that addresses the gaps that exist now and close them for future generations, as well as the students in the system right now.

While it is not the board’s role to educate the community directly, it is their role to make sure a communication strategy, about budget short falls and surpluses, is in place that gives parents an opportunity to voice concerns AND their ideas for solving the problems we will face in the future.

Honest dialogue and concerted outreach to lawmakers is critical to addressing underfunding. Addressing underfunded mandates requires that our arguments be backed with solid research to make one’s case persuasive. As a member of Schools First with Tom Lawson (another member), we made a presentation to the Schools First board on state disproportionate funding of the Seattle School District in comparison of other districts across the state. As an example, this type of presentation at board meetings, community forums and other media dissemination, could be used to convey a clearer picture of some of the complexities of these relationships.

The School Board’s role in advocating for funding in Olympia ensuring that State education priorities are not unfunded mandates would be to educate our parents, students, communities, and businesses on these mandates and lobby these interests to our State Legislature. It is vital to build a report with our State reps through constant communication to ensure visibility and assurance in positioning ourselves as recipients of these funds for the quality education needed for ALL students. For example, it is important for parents, students, and communities to rally together against recommendations of City and State to fund more prisons when funding should be allocated to educating our children. We must educate, not incarcerate. Because of my effectiveness of rallying parents, staff, students and communities together to fight for pertinent issues that affect us as a whole, I would best serve our public education communities more effectively than my opponents. It is equally important for the School Board to provide clarity of state standards as it relates to the Weighted Student Formula. Placing an urgency to staff, parents, students and communities of the value it brings for each student and aligning these standards with each school transformation plan. The school board is also responsible for monitoring School District budget to ensure state and /or city levy funds are allocated properly and within guidelines of Weighted Student Formula. The board should be kept accountable for every penny spent to avoid financial pitfalls like the deficit we are in currently.

The Seattle School Board is uniquely positioned in the state’s largest city and media market to advocate for public education issues in general and funding in particular. This is not easy or a given, if the Board is viewed critically by local and state leaders it can and has detracted from prospects for increased funding in Olympia. Presently, our standing is good and our access to key leaders and the large Seattle delegation is open. Olympia looks to us for fiscal responsibility in order to move ahead with statewide funding issues. That may not be fair or deserved but it is political reality. Our actions addressing state audit concerns were critical moving forward on funding questions. We are the best funded district in the state in large part because of our generous voters supporting local levies. This will need to be balanced with statewide concerns over regional equity. The Board has supported linkage between higher standards and accountability and increased funding while resisting any unfunded mandates. I rely on local and statewide networks- Seattle Council PTSA, Washington PTSA, League of Education Voters, League of Women Voters and others to build advocacy and support behind these positions. As elected officials, the Board has a strong advocacy role but not an organizing role. Thus, we should consult frequently with those organizations that do.