Closing time...for 3 Bellevue schools, maybe Seattle eventually: Today So Far

• The Bellevue School District is considering closing three elementary schools. Seattle Public Schools may be facing a similar decision.
• Should Washington state nix its jaywalking laws?
• Debate around police pursuit rules re-emerged at the Capitol in Olympia.

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for February 10, 2023.

It could be said that I am not exactly sensitive to the realities and challenges that children and parents face. OK, I admit, that has most definitely been said before. Yes, I have related my experience with dogs amid conversations with parents discussing their children — nobody can tell me that those little playpens are any different than crating a puppy. Friends and family have noted a certain dead stare I display, indicating that I do not think their kids are nearly as interesting as they do, and that their dogs are far more engaging (hey, I don't go around telling everybody that Cosmo learned to high five and rollover, which he did, and he's awesome at it). To be clear: I do not hate children. They're fine. Still, you can't bring kids to most worthwhile places. Even when they do talk about something remotely interesting, it's usually Star Wars, which is like entry-level nerd.

So yeah, offenses have been made (I'm sure a few emails are now coming my way). I bring all this up to say that even someone like me can understand why parents would get very concerned about their kids' school closing down, and how that could greatly impact their lives. It's a big deal and it's happening in Bellevue right now. It could also be on the horizon for Seattle.

Short version: The Bellevue School District has suffered a staggering loss of younger students, so much that it says it has to consolidate three schools. Nothing is decided yet, but the district has recommended three sites to close, including Ardmore, Eastgate, and Wilburton elementary schools.

Bellevue's enrollment has gone down 9% over the past three years. That will result in an estimated $20 million revenue hit next year, officials say. The district is also anticipating enrollment to further decline by 8% over the next 10 years. Consolidating schools is a way to save money, but it is not sitting well with some parents at the recommended schools.

Bellevue's predicament is not an isolated incident. Neighboring Northshore, Shoreline, and Lake Washington school districts have experienced student declines between 2–5% over the past few years.

You can expect similar concerns emerging among Seattle parents soon. Enrollment at Seattle Public Schools has declined by about 7% over the past couple years. The district now faces a $131 million budget deficit in 2023-24, and a shortfall of $92 million in 2025. Closing and consolidating schools is also on the table for Seattle school officials.

Fred Podesta, interim deputy superintendent at Seattle Public Schools, told Soundside that consolidating schools saves money on operating costs — fewer lunch rooms, buses, etc. He further notes that the decline in enrollment is just one part of the budget problem. The district is also facing rising costs.

"It's consolidating schools into bigger schools ... schools with higher enrollment because resources are allocated based on enrollment in a school," Podesta said, adding that there is a lot of work to be done to figure out how such a change could even work out. Everything is speculation at this point.

"The growth in the school-aged children population has flattened in Seattle, for a variety of reasons. In the pandemic, certainly there were families who found other solutions ... particularly for very young children, pre-K, kindergarteners, people turned to perhaps other educational options. And people's work life and demographics seemed to have shifted during the pandemic as well; people have flexibility with remote work to change residential patterns ... largely, there is just fewer families with school-aged children. Seattle is growing, Seattle will continue to grow, but the mix is a little bit different."

The Associated Press reports that student enrollment at public schools across the United States has dramatically dipped. An AP / Stanford University analysis recently found that 230,000 students across 21 states have dropped off school rosters, and that nobody quite knows exactly where they went. The analysis states that there was a 3.4% decline in Washington's public school enrollment between 2019 and 2021. Homeschooling in Washington saw a nearly 54% increase, and private schools saw an increase of about 20%. Yet, when you add up all the enrollment increases and minus the public decreases, and adjust for the change in school-age population, there are about 10,614 K-12 students in Washington that are unaccounted for.

Numbers offer little comfort to parents who have not only moved to the area for the schools, but have found community through them.

"They're looking at data, but are they also looking at what it means for the community? What it means for the kids? Are they purely looking at this from a numbers perspective?" one parent recently told Soundside. They moved to Bellevue so her kids could attend Eastgate.

Jaywalking in Washington state could be a thing of the past if an effort in Olympia is successful this legislative session. Proponents of a plan to nix jaywalking laws argue that data paints a clear picture: Black people get more jaywalking tickets than everybody else, while people living unhoused get about 40% of such citations.

Opponents argue that collisions between pedestrians and vehicles are on the rise and removing jaywalking laws will only add to the problem. A state official recently noted that fewer than 1,000 tickets are usually issued for the offense statewide each year. A fine can run between $68–70. Northwest News Network's Tom Banse has the full story here.

Another discussion at the state Capitol could also change things on the road. There is some movement to change up the rules around police pursuits. You may recall that Washington lawmakers approved a suite of police accountability laws a couple years back. One such change limited the circumstances in which a police officer could chase a suspect in a car. It has drawn criticism ever since with many officers arguing that suspects are simply driving off with no consequences.

Now arguments are being lined up for and against further changes, and it appears they each have their own data to point to. One side says recent numbers show that the new law resulted in lower fatalities from such pursuits. The other side is saying, "actually..." Their data suggest that police chase fatalities were lower before the new rules. Read the full story here.

The Friday Five: News you may have missed this week, and other cool stuff

• Mike's adventures in art: Seattle Opera celebrates Afghan art
• WA will need more clean energy from other states by 2050
• Bird flu means higher egg prices, now there’s a chick boom in the U.S.
• WA geographical sites renamed after Black homesteaders
• On the road to healing, tribal citizens speak about boarding schools

AS SEEN ON KUOW

Rosie Short Robinson, the matriarch of Indigo May's family, standing in front of her house. Year and location unknown. RadioActive's Indigo Mays recently learned about the story of her great-great-grandmother and her journey amid the 20th Century's Great Migration, during which Black families moved from the rural South to northern states in pursuit of a better life. (Courtesy of Carol Chism)

DID YOU KNOW?

Other countries, such as the United Kingdom, don't have jaywalking laws. The USA stands out in this regard. The term "jaywalking" is a relatively recent concept that is based on the previous "jay driver." A jay driver was basically a bad driver of horse-drawn carriages and eventually automobiles. As cars became more dominant on roads through the early 1900s, there were a lot of jay drivers out there on the wrong side of the street or just being negligent. Therefore, when someone would walk negligently through the street, they too were labeled as "jays." At one point, the automobile industry got into promoting the idea, and "jaywalking" became the dominant term.

But what is a "jay?" This is an old term akin to a "rube." What's a rube? It's like a "greenhorn." What's a greenhorn? These are all terms for an inexperienced, unenlightened, unsophisticated, unintelligent person. In our modern parlance, we would instead say something like idiot, nitwit, or YouTube influencer. So lining up "jay" with "walker" was essentially a quick and harsh version of "moron in the road." Washington's law doesn't actually state "jaywalking" in its text, but this is the term that society has run (into the road) with.

ALSO ON OUR MINDS

What we know so far about the suspected Chinese spy balloon and FBI probe

China has sent surveillance balloons over more than 40 countries across five continents, and the Biden administration is in touch with other countries about the scope of the program. The balloons are part of what an official called a fleet of balloons developed to conduct surveillance, and flights are often undertaken at the direction of the Chinese military.

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