Mr. Federal Way recently wrote an article deriding a group of parents and community members that was asking the school district to look at options for expanding choice programs.

I was one of those parents/community members and wanted an opportunity to respond to clarify what we are trying to do.

Mr. Federal Way asserted that it would cost too much to allow families to choose the appropriate programs for their children.

It’s unclear what proposals Mr. Federal Way is considering when he makes this general assertion. The truth is, I do not think we have any idea what it would cost or save at this point. That’s the reason we are asking for a committee to be formed to investigate the options. Here is why we think that there may be cost-neutral options, yet allow more families to get their first choice education for their children:

1. We are not asking for more kids to be added to the district. At the end of the day, there will be the same number of children in the district. We are just advocating moving kids from their second and third choice programs to their first choice programs.

2. We are not necessarily asking for a new building purchase. There are multiple options that are being thrown around for where programs can be housed including the top floor of the district building to housing the programs on existing campuses.

3. As far as I know, the FWPA and TAF kids don’t require any special equipment or facility that would incur additional costs.

4. My understanding is that the biggest budget line item in our schools is personnel costs. If you look at Student/Teacher Ratio, FWPA and TAF are on the less expensive side of middle schools in terms of staffing costs. These choice programs do not require higher staff costs. Among junior high schools in the FWPS, Student-to-teacher ratios range from 14 to 18. The aforesaid schools are both 17.

With that said, shuffling boundaries and kids into different programs would take a lot of effort. Perhaps, Mr. Federal Way may be arguing that there are higher priorities in our school district than allowing families to choose their first choice program for their children, such as graduation rates or increasing percentage of students meeting standards.

These are definitely high priorities. However, if we only prioritize students that are struggling, those families looking for a better education will migrate out of the district, leaving us with less families willing to invest their time and money into our school district.

Mr. Federal Way suggests that we put effort into improving the public schools that are already established and open our pocketbooks. I agree. I believe every person that showed up to the school board meeting to advocate this issue is involved with their local schools – in the PTSA, in various activity clubs, coaching sports, at their fundraisers, etc.

Mr. Federal Way is correct in that these are the ways to improve schools. We just need to attract more people who are willing and able. The way to attract them is by making room for them in our best choice programs.

Don Hyun, Federal Way