Financially-troubled Seattle district to pick school for closures, cut staff

Seattle Public Schools will reveal five schools up for closure later this month, with the district exploring future staff cuts to address a continuing $100 million budget deficit next year.

Seattle Public Schools is considering closing five schools rather than 17 to 21 as part of a plan to reduce a $94 million budget deficit. The closures would come before the start of the 2025-2026 school year.

The initial school closure proposals would have saved the district approximately $30 million by closing 21 schools. That would have left an estimated gap of around $70 million for the district to address after consolidations.

Instead, this new proposal would leave Seattle Public Schools officials with a lingering budget gap of between $90 million to $100 million, according to Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Brent Jones.

“While school consolidation will make us a more efficient system, we recognize that closing five schools still leaves us with significant fiscal challenges between $90 million and $100 million,” Jones said at Wednesday's Seattle School Board meeting. “Ignoring the problem will exacerbate the problem for years to come.”

Jones said he expects to reveal the preliminary list around Oct. 21.

The district will have to continue to work to address the budget deficit. That starts next month, when the board will take action on educational program reductions.

There are three “buckets” the district is looking to tap into in order to close the gap: first is state authorization for greater flexibility on financing the budget deficit in order to save approximately $30 million towards the next school year budget, according to Jones

The district will also seek out $40 million from the state in order to fund areas of special education, transportation and materials.

Lastly, in order to find $30 million, some internal cuts will be considered, including reduced staffing, fewer buses, and adding a third bell time to reduce transportation costs.

It's expected that the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors will reconvene in January to hold another public hearing and take final action on the five school closures.

A multi-year outlook on the district’s fiscal future is set be presented in June 2025.