Seattle Superintendent Shuldiner Opens Merger Talks After Enrollment Drops
The district will evaluate school closures over several months after student numbers fell below the 50,000 threshold, prompting a review of staffing and facility structures.
By Allison Rojas ·
Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Ben Shuldiner initiated a formal review of potential school mergers on Sunday. He sent a letter to parents announcing that the district’s student enrollment has fallen below 50,000. This demographic shift triggers a multi-month process to evaluate which campuses may combine to maintain viable educational structures.
Shuldiner described current conditions at several sites as unsustainable. He cited specific examples in his correspondence, including a K-8 school with fewer than 50 students and a K-5 school with fewer than 120 students. At other locations, he noted that students attend classes in buildings lacking interior walls. Additionally, some campuses are forced to use split-grade classrooms, such as combining sixth through eighth graders, due to low headcounts.
The district will begin visiting staff and executive directors at potentially affected schools this week. Family meetings at proposed receiving schools are scheduled from November through mid-December. Following these consultations, the administration will present a formal list of recommendations to the Seattle School Board. The public will then have a 60-day window for hearings in January and February before the board takes action in late February or early March.
Shuldiner explained that the merger process began only after the district finalized a three-year collective bargaining agreement with the Seattle Education Association in September. The contract set staffing levels and class ratios, with wage increases for teachers ranging from 8.8% to 9.8% over three years. Paraeducator wages will rise by nearly 11% during the same period. The district is operating with a structural budget deficit after cutting approximately $50 million in earlier budget revisions this year.
In the letter, Shuldiner stated that he did not want students to spend another year in buildings where bookcases serve as walls or in split-grade configurations. He also expressed a desire to avoid situations where a single teacher covers an entire grade level. The superintendent pledged that families displaced by any approved closure would receive priority during open enrollment. The district will also extend the transfer application window until one week after the final board decision.
The superintendent did not release a specific list of schools currently under consideration for mergers or closures. The full newsletter detailing the merger process is available on the Seattle Public Schools website.
