Cost of Poor School Board

This election season, some candidates for Seattle City Council are yammering about the importance of strong public schools, even though the School Board, not the City Council, runs the public schools.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, facing only a minor re-election battle, says assuring that "all of Seattle's school children are succeeding in school" is a top priority of his second term — again, even though the School Board, not the mayor, oversees schools.

Politics abhors a vacuum and the current Seattle School Board has created one by making management of schools seem rocky and unpredictable. The board's vague guidance to the superintendent resulted in an unpopular school-closure plan that did not have academic achievement as a consideration. The board wasted time deciding if it should get involved in a labor dispute at the Darigold plant. And the board focused on pet projects such as what belongs in school vending machines.

In addition to more high-profile contests for King County executive, City Council and County Council, voters should pay attention to people who can do something about public schools — the School Board. There are two open seats this year and one contested race against an incumbent.

Oftentimes voters don't venture that far down the ballot, especially if they have never heard the names of School Board candidates. This year, voters ought to take time to learn them.

Seattle is one of the most childless big cities in the nation. Roughly 80 percent of households do not have children living in them. The city is second only to San Francisco, among the large cities, in having the lowest percentage of residents under 18.

The 80-percent figure is striking because it says a lot about our city. Though Seattle is relatively childless, school levies pass by 70 percent or more many years. Schools are something we care about even if they don't benefit each of us directly.

The mayor and City Council candidates understand the presence of children builds broader support for parks, community centers, libraries and aquariums. School buildings are often the epicenter of a neighborhood, lively, bustling places where children perform music and plays, play sports and a variety of other stuff that keeps a community active and engaged. The Friday night high-school football game attracts students, parents and alums.

The reasons for our relative childlessness go beyond lower birth rates. Expensive housing drives out families seeking more square footage for the buck. Harping over limited public school budgets sends families to the suburbs, where amenities are often bigger and better, or to private schools.

Mayors and city leaders try to improve schools because they know children bring vivaciousness to a city. Many people with no direct connection to schools support levies because they believe in the promise of a good education and that well-educated kids will be tomorrow's leaders.

Remember how upbeat the city felt when Seattle School Superintendent John Stanford came to town in 1995? People were suddenly excited about schools. Families with kids in private schools made the switch to public.

Roughly 29 percent of children in Seattle attend private or other schools. Whenever the School Board gets bogged down in minutiae, the public also has to consider students whose families opted out. What did they take with them in addition to the per-student amount provided by the state, usually about $5,500 per student?

Two years ago, Seattle citizens, unhappy with an out-of-the-blue budget shortfall, voted out three incumbent School Board members and one other member stepped aside. The newcomers as a group were no improvement, though they are not on the ballot this fall.

The board is light on ideas, vision and cohesiveness. Two open seats could be filled by Linda Thompson-Black and Michael DeBell. And one incumbent is being challenged by Jane Fellner. The Seattle Times Editorial Page endorsed these three candidates, arguing that together they would dramatically change the tone of a troubled board.

A city lacking children — a city without quality public schools — can be a one-dimensional, uninspiring place.