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Advocacy Opportunity: 2026-2027 Class Sizes
Thu, Mar 26 10:59am

Whittier families,

As Principal Watters' shared in her recent community email, SPS' estimated enrollment numbers for Whittier's next school year came back low. This, combined with SPS increasing target class sizes for Tier 4/low-poverty schools like Whittier in their Weighted Staffing Standards (WSS) model, means we currently have one fewer homeroom teacher assigned to our school for next year. Next year's class sizes are currently slated as:

  • K: 3 classrooms of 17 (WSS = 21) -4 below WSS/classroom
  • 1st: 3 classrooms of 18 (WSS = 21) -3 below WSS/classroom
  • 2nd: 2 classrooms of 27 (WSS = 22) +5 above WSS/classroom
  • 3rd: 2 classrooms of 28 (WSS = 24) +4 above WSS/classroom
  • 4th: 2 classrooms of 28 (WSS = 28) +0 above WSS/classroom
  • 5th: 2 classrooms of 31 (WSS = 28) +3 above WSS/classroom

This puts 43% of the classrooms in our buildings above WSS targets by 3-5 students per classroom. Note: WSS class sizes are targets--not maximums. While WA State does set class size maximums for K-3 classrooms, this is not enforced on a per classroom basis. Rather, SPS uses a district average across all classrooms/buildings to demonstrate they're in legal alignment. 

If teacher allocations were calculated to meet WSS Targets, we would need:

  • K - 2.42 Teachers (given 3) 
  • 1st Grade - 2.7 Teachers (given 3) 
  • 2nd Grade - 2.41 Teachers (given 2) 
  • 3rd Grade - 2.5 Teachers (given 2) 
  • 4th Grade - 2.04 Teachers (given 2) 
  • 5th Grade - 2.3 Teachers (given 2) 

WA State Law splits elementary teacher allocations into 2 groups: K-3 and 4-5. This means we cannot apply K-3 teacher allocations to 4th and 5th grade classrooms (and vice versa). If we bucket these allocations into these groupings, we find:

  • K-3 - 10.03 Teachers Needed (10 assigned)
  • 4-5 - 4.33 Teachers Needed (4 assigned)
  • Building Overall - 14.36 Teachers Needed (across all grades)
  • Given K-3, 4-5 split: 16 Teachers Needed 
  • Note: Even if we get one more teacher, the building will be left with either an overly large lower grade (2nd or 3rd) or 5th grade

SPS’ public policy is to round up (not truncate) but they are not currently following this policy (and haven't followed it in recent memory). Informally, it's understood that teacher allocations for partial (less than 1.0 FTE) are only provided if the decimal is .6 or above.

SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

Contact our Seattle School Board Directors, including D2 Director Kathleen Smith to:

  • Demand SPS follow the round up (not truncate) policy for assigning teachers
  • Due to WA State restrictions on staffing allocation (K-3 vs. 4-5 grade allocations), SPS allocations must round up per grade grouping--not for the overall building 
  • Low poverty schools still serve low-income and high needs students WITHOUT the support of many funding outlets and resources; WSS targets should not be raised without careful examination of the net results. SPS must re-examine its class size targets across all tiers to ensure it provides educational outcomes, particularly given the lack of supports (math intervention, reading intervention, full time social worker) provided to Tier 4 schools.

The Bottom Line:

  • We need 2 additional teachers to be in line with WSS targets in K-3 and 4-5 classrooms at Whittier
  • 56% of building classrooms staying within WSS target is a failing grade for this policy
  • SPS needs to re-examine WSS targets for Tier 4 schools to see if it's aligned with their promised educational outcomes
  • Our kids are not rounding errors--they need appropriately sized classrooms to be able to learn effectively

HOW TO ADVOCATE

Thank you for your help and advocacy. Spending 5 minutes to contact our School Board is advocacy not only for our students, but for our staff and for public education at large. Always feel free to reach out to president@whittierptaseattle.org if you have any questions.