Seattle Student Options Coalition

Seattle Public Schools must fix its policies to enroll and retain more families.

Seattle Public Schools’ Open Enrollment is meant to give an opportunity for children to enroll at a public school that can effectively meet their needs, but the District’s current enrollment process lacks transparency and contributes to enrollment loss, worsening the budget deficit. To strengthen the entire SPS system, the district must focus on enrolling students. When parents are denied a voice, and diverse learning options are reduced, the whole system suffers. Inclusive and equitable access to option schools and alternative programs requires SPS to be a transparent, supportive partner in managing student assignments.

1. The District’s limiting of enrollment is worsening its $94 million budget deficit. Seattle has the second-highest rate of private school enrollment in the country (25.1%), behind only San Francisco.¹

The percentage of children born in Seattle enrolling in SPS for Kindergarten dropped from 64% to 53% in 5 years, equating to about 3,000 Kindergarten-age children who were not enrolled in SPS for the 23/24 SY.²
The threat of closures can lead to enrollment declines of 10–45% at affected schools, including schools that were proposed to close but did not.³
In Washington, school funding is based on enrollment ($22k/student in SPS in the 23-24 SY⁴), so maintaining and growing enrollment is critical to reducing the deficit.
Contradicting its own enrollment and staff projections published by the SPS Budget Office, the District intentionally suppressed enrollment at select schools.⁵

2. In 2024, SPS did not enroll hundreds of families in their preferred schools, despite available capacity.⁶

Over 750 families were left on K-5 and K-8 option school waitlists during the 24-25 Open Enrollment period, despite staffing and building capacity. (see map)
SPS did not prioritize siblings. Some younger siblings were waitlisted and not enrolled, leaving families with students in more than one school.
Preventing families from enrolling in preferred schools despite available space erodes trust and is counter-productive to growing District- wide enrollment.
Many families who were not enrolled in their preferred school opted to leave SPS entirely.
Turning families away from popular and well- functioning programs undermines a thriving, equitable public school system for all.
The District has indicated they are prioritizing enrollment in assigned neighborhood schools over public option or other schools. If neighborhood schools are too full or too empty, District-wide school boundaries should be redrawn, which last happened in 2010.

3. The lack of transparency on enrollment policies and procedures sows distrust.

SPS has an internal policy that moving waitlists must not harm enrollment at assignment area schools,⁷ rather than seizing the opportunity to attract and retain students in highly sought- after public schools.⁸
The Student Assignment Transition Plan—the authority document on enrollment guidelines— has not been updated since February 2022. Without this, families are left in the dark on District policies.⁹
WA State legislature granted SPS $100,000 for research to identify drivers of SPS enrollment. While a first draft of the report was expected by the end of 2024, as of January 21st, 2025, there is still no mention of the research from Seattle Public Schools.¹⁰

Waitlists in August 2024⁶

Downloadable PDF

Footnotes

Gene Balk, “Seattle private school enrollment spikes, ranks no. 2 among big cities,” The Seattle Times, September 19, 2024, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/seattle-private-school-enrollment-spikes-ranks-no-2-among-big-cities/.
FLO Analytics, 2024, “Seattle Public Schools 2024–25 to 2033–34 Enrollment Forecasts,” Report, Seattle Public Schools, http://www.seattleschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Seattle-PS-2024-25-to-2033-34-enrollment-forecast-document.pdf.
Jessica Blanchard, “After 5 schools closed, 157 students left Seattle district,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 20, 2007, https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/after-5-schools-closed-157-students-left-seattle-1256324.php.
“Washington State Report Card: Seattle School District No. 1,” WA Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Accessed January 9, 2025, https://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/ReportCard/ViewSchoolOrDistrict/100229.
Seattle Public Schools, 2024, “Schools’ Funding Allocations,” Report, http://www.seattleschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-25-Purple-Book-March-1-Final-Online-Ver.pdf.
Seattle Public Schools, 2024, “2024-2025 Waitlist Summary Report,” Report, https://www.seattleschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/WaitingListSummary_08272024.pdf.
Director of Enrollment Planning and Services, email message to Mr. Goldstein, December 20, 2024, http://seattlestudentoptions.org/complaint.
Danny Westneat, “Seattle’s school closure plan slashes what works, not what doesn’t,” The Seattle Times, September 14, 2024, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattles-school-closure-plan-slashes-what-works-not-what-doesnt/.
Seattle Public Schools, 2022, “Student Assignment Transition Plan for 2022-23,” Report, https://www.seattleschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/SATP-Final-ADA-NewCover.pdf.
Denisa R Superville, “SPS to investigate declining enrollment using new grant,” The Seattle Times, April 15, 2024, https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/t-to-investigate-declining-enrollment-using-100k-grant/.

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