Highland Terrace PTA

Highland Terrace PTA

Advocacy

PTA speaks for every child with one voice. As the largest volunteer child advocacy organization in the nation, we are the conscience of the country for issues affecting children and youth.

📢 Stay Informed with Advocacy Alerts

Easily join efforts to advocate for our kids and our schools by signing up for advocacy alerts from Shoreline PTA Council. You’ll receive action alerts and informational broadcasts that include quick, simple ways to communicate with legislators, as well as other information or updates relevant to advocacy work.

Subscribe to Advocacy Alerts

Legislative Advocacy

Shoreline Public Schools has a budget problem. Our district faced significant budget cuts when planning for the 2023-24 school year that deeply impact students and staff. Please read further to learn how we got here and what we can do to take action at the state and local levels. Thank you for getting involved and advocating for our students!

You can find more information on the district budget outlook and planning on the Shoreline Schools budget page.

For the latest advocacy news and updates, see Shoreline PTA Council’s Advocacy page. If you have questions, ideas, or comments, please reach out to legchair@shorelinepta.org.

District Budget Deficit: How Did We Get Here?

School funding is complex, but a simplified answer: At the state level, Washington restructured school funding for all public schools in 2018 as a result of the McCleary case. The new funding model made all school districts much more dependent on state funds and capped local ability to raise funds through levies. Current state funding does not fully cover school district operating costs, particularly in areas with a high cost-of-living like Shoreline. 

The COVID crisis then gave schools: 1) new crises and rising costs that sapped reserves, 2) temporary federal funding that delayed budget cut decisions, and 3) declines in student enrollment. Because Shoreline is already at the max of our cap for our local levy, we can’t raise additional funds locally to make up the shortfall. Thus, we face significant cuts.

Action Steps: What Can We Do?

1. Write to State Legislators

We are asking all parents to please write to your state legislators. Let’s come together to call for increased education funding and push for Washington to restructure our education funding moving forward, such that we can maintain Shoreline’s high-quality education.

Email state legislators

To make it easy, we’ve provided a sample letter to send to legislators. Real world stories from constituents are especially impactful, so we’ve included an area at the top of the letter where you can add how your family will be personally affected by the budget cuts.

Here’s what to do:

  1. Click the button below to open an email pre-filled with the sample letter
  2. Personalize the letter by filling in the bracketed section at the top
  3. Add your name and address at the bottom
  4. Send!

Alternatively, you can also copy and paste the text below into an email.

Dear Esteemed State Senators and Representatives,

I have a child at Highland Terrace Elementary school.  They will be negatively impacted by the loss of their… [paraeducator support, librarian, full-time nurse, family advocate, etc].

As concerned parents, we are asking you to act with the utmost urgency in the next legislative session to address the current significant funding shortfall facing our school district. This shortfall will impact our children, families, and communities.

Shoreline Public Schools faced significant budget cuts for the 2023-24 school year due to the following key state funding shortfalls:

● Decreasing regionalization factors and local levy limits

● Continued deeply underfunded special education services

● Misaligned and underfunded building and support staffing models

● Unfunded portions of IPD and SEBB for staff

● Ongoing unfunded mandates

The severe impact and inequity of leaving our state’s prototypical school funding model with little modification since the McCleary decision has never been more apparent. School districts had only 1.5 years following the decision to work with the new funding model before the COVID19 pandemic arrived in our state — upending schooling and bringing the inequities of our current system into sharp focus. A funding model based on enrollment – not student need – without baseline staffing needed to run each school and support the whole child while lacking an effective mechanism to account for the true differences in costs for operation and staffing in different areas of the state, regardless of enrollment, are coming to a head at this time.

We ask you to make the following significant investments:

● Fully fund special education – Fully fund the true cost of fulfilling our students’ rights to special education services by substantially increasing the multiplier, lifting the artificial cap, and preserving SafetyNet funding. In our district, this is currently an $8mil funding gap and accounts for 33% of our local levy funds.

● Support the whole child – Realign and fund the staffing allocations for building and support positions needed to have comprehensive learning and care for students in each building (principals, asst. principals, deans, counselors, librarians, nurses, psychologists, family advocates, custodians, and front office and nutrition services staff). Provide for universal school meals to ensure students have the nutrition needed for learning.

● Respond to regional costs – Establish sustainable, ongoing parameters for district regionalization based on the true cost of living and labor markets regionally. Create a predictable, regional approach to IPD / COLA salary increases to account for true cost of living. Note that when you pass an IPD the state funding only covers state allocations — leaving districts to cover the IPD increase out of levy funds for federally funded employees and employees not fully funded in the state model (e.g. special education teachers and staff, deans, nurses, counselors, etc.).

● Fund the true cost of transportation – Fuel costs are rising, fleets are in need of maintenance and replacement, and staff deserve the same support as educators.

● No unfunded mandates – Ensure all public school directives have the necessary funding included for implementation. Even the smallest additional cost is significant.

Please help us fully support our students as they deserve – especially after all they’ve endured during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We know there are many competing priorities you are being asked to address, particularly around our state economy, community stability, and public safety. Education is not separate from these, but rather foundational to any of their success. 

Sincerely,

(Your Name)

(Your Address — this allows them to confirm you are their constituent)

Email State Legislators

2. Subscribe to Action Alerts from Shoreline PTA Council and WA State PTA

Action alerts are quick, easy ways to communicate with legislators as well as other information or updates relevant to advocacy work. Signing up is a great way to stay informed and easily join efforts to advocate for our kids and schools.

Sign up for alerts from Shoreline PTA Council – Actions and information specific to Shoreline School District

Sign up for alerts from WSPTA – Action alerts relevant for the state of Washington

3. Call Your State Legislators

We can make a real difference by picking up the phone and asking our representatives to fund our schools.

32nd Legislative District

  • Senator Jesse Salomon: (360) 786-7662
  • Rep. Cindy Ryu: (360) 786-7880
  • Rep. Lauren Davis: (360) 786-7910

Contact School Board Members Directly

You can find complete contact information for the School Board on the school district website. Below are key contacts for Highland Terrace, which is located in District #3 and represented by Director Sarah Cohen.