I’m a graduate of Seattle Public Colleges and the mum or dad of a present scholar.
I used to be additionally a founding member of the United States Digital Service in the Obama White House (the USDS has since been renamed and restructured below President Donald Trump). A big a part of our work was serving to federal companies establish and repair organizational points that blocked efficient coverage implementation.
Over the previous six months, I’ve been working with a gaggle of oldsters on a deep dive into SPS’s funds. We’ve analyzed a number of many years of knowledge, going all the way in which again to Joseph Olchefske, who succeeded John Stanford as superintendent in 1998.
The message I wish to share is that this: Seattle should select a superintendent who will actively redesign a company that has, for many years, struggled to ensure spending matches the budget developed by the School Board and the senior staff.
This isn’t nearly discovering somebody with the precise values. The brand new superintendent should restructure workers at a number of ranges, whereas additionally rebuilding expertise, belief and cohesion throughout the forms. With out fixing this, even the perfect imaginative and prescient will fail — as a result of the cash gained’t go the place it’s alleged to.
Let me floor this in knowledge.
Since Olchefske’s departure in 2003, we’ve seen a gentle erosion of transparency within the district’s budgeting course of. Every successive superintendent has eliminated extra info from what’s introduced to the board. At present, 31% of the district’s operating budget — about $383 million annually — is spent on staffing that isn’t described within the price range paperwork the board is requested to approve.
In 2002, the board and the public could see how many FTEs and how much funding was assigned to each department. Now, we solely see college staffing by “Weighted Staffing Requirements.” Particulars for different departments are gone.
And what occurs when one thing isn’t seen? It avoids cuts.
Whereas the half that continues to be seen — school-based staffing: academics, principals, counselors, transportation — will get examined yr after yr, the opaque 31% escapes scrutiny.
Although a lot of that 31% does go to important workers (e.g., custodians, nurses, therapists), different issues slip by the cracks.
Right here’s only one instance: From 2012-2024, the “HR exercise” class overspent its price range by a mean of $2 million yearly. Worse, since 2019, the HR exercise price range was diminished by $1.3 million however precise spending on this class elevated by $2.6 million. By 2023-2024, HR exercise overspending reached $4.1 million — almost the quantity of projected financial savings from the four-school closure proposal.
Though the district has decided that a lot of the latest HR overspend resulted from a spending classification mismatch between budgeting and spending, it nonetheless implies that for years, our price range reductions had no discernible influence. Did we reduce workers or not? By how a lot and the place?
The monetary chain of management — from the board-approved price range, to the superintendent, to senior management, right down to the departments — is damaged.
Restoring this chain would require troublesome choices — together with restructuring departments and, possible, terminations. With out it, we danger persevering with painful cuts to school rooms with out figuring out if there are multimillion-dollar inefficiencies in non-student-facing departments.
The ability set wanted to repair that is completely different from the ability set wanted to construct a brand new imaginative and prescient. In some organizations, throughout govt turnover, a fixed-term interim chief is employed with a transparent mandate: Get the home so as so {that a} long-term chief can succeed with out being burdened by the politics of inside reshuffling.
Is that an possibility for SPS? May we rent a restructuring-focused interim superintendent for one yr with two clear objectives. Be certain that:
● Precise spending matches the authorized price range.
● The variety of full-time equivalents and {dollars} allotted to each division are absolutely identified and clear in budgeting.
Then, and solely then, resume the seek for a long-term, visionary chief.
Whereas interim superintendent Fred Podesta has a observe report of discovering financial savings (e.g., in transportation and upkeep), there’s a transparent battle of curiosity in asking him to supervise restructuring that impacts future friends. An interim targeted on restructuring should come from exterior the system.
If this isn’t possible, we should always prioritize hiring a restructuring-oriented superintendent. That’s the extra pressing want proper now. Given Seattle’s observe report with superintendent tenure, any rent may successfully be fixed-term anyway.
