If you were to walk into any given classroom in the Kirkland area, it wouldn't take long to summon up a pretty homogenous snapshot of the student body. Children of color sprinkled throughout a majority of white kids. Storerooms well stocked with supplies. New backpacks hanging from rows of hooks.
But affluence - which is usually invisible at the elementary level and painfully more obvious at the secondary level - mingles with poverty in our school system. Yes, the schools are well-maintained and the Lake Washington School District has an enviable modernization schedule (thanks to levies which are not state-mandated, but voter-approved). But, beneath the façade lurks a tale of inequity.
In more than half of the 48 schools served by the Lake Washington School District throughout Kirkland, Redmond and Sammamish, 14 percent of the students receive free or reduced lunches (meaning the family's income is at a low enough level to quality for state aid). Some schools have half their students earning this dubious qualification.
And the district receives $1,000 less per student in state funding than comparable neighboring districts - Bellevue, Mercer Island and Seattle can generate up to 34 percent - making our district even more dependent on local levies to meet schools' basic needs.
To rub salt in the wound, levy funds are limited since grandfathered-in levy lids mean that our district is only able to raise up to 24.9 percent of the funds provided to the district by the state in a local levy.
As result, most school districts' budgets are stretched to the point where basic needs, such as books and paper, sometimes are unaffordable. This is where a public schools foundation comes in.
A foundation is born
In February 2005, after four fact-finding meetings and concomitant research, the non-profit Lake Washington Schools Foundation was formed. The Lake Washington School District was the only one in King County without such an organization.
This is much to the delight of Anne Garrett, a single mother who knows too well the trappings of being a middle-income family in one of the most affluent area in the state. Garrett, a third-generation teacher, is the foundation's executive director and desperately trying to spread the word that there is a gaping hole between what the district can provide and what each school's parent/teacher/student association (PTSA) can do.
"The foundation is finding new ways to support schools in a systematic way. The district is doing a phenomenal job with the funds they have - in fact, I've never seen such a well-run school district - but we're struggling to keep teachers," she says.
How can this be? District voters determine how much money is raised for capital expenses (hence the three levies passed in February), but state law regulated the operating budget (including teacher salaries). Because of inequities, our district ranks 264th out of 296 districts in the state in terms of revenue per pupil.
Equalizing the field
"We're not a welfare agency, but we're trying to equalize the playing field," says Garrett. We're still learning where the gaps are."
Garrett points to the poignant fact that when funds are limited at home, kids have to make choices between getting a new pair of shoes or a required $125 calculator. There is also the assumption - even at the affluent schools - that there is a computer and printer at home. She acknowledges the "pain of being an adolescent where everyone around you doesn't have to think twice about new shoes or clothes."
The foundation is off to a roaring start, thanks to the lioness Garrett, reaching its goal to raise $100,000 by the end of its first fiscal year (in June) five months early. And then its inaugural luncheon, "Launch a Legacy," held May 17, surpassed all expectations and netted another $100,000. The event was emceed by KING-TV anchor Dennis Bounds, whose children attended Redmond schools.
Garrett is motivated because of her love of teaching - a profession which was unable to provide a "living wage" - and her dyslexia, which wasn't discovered until graduate school. With support from her music-oriented family and plain old keyboarding, she conquered the disability. As a result, she is committed to keeping fine arts alive and kicking in the schools. "It's alarming to me that fine arts are considered optional," she says. "They're a lifeline for learning."
She says that "her big dream" is to provide an after-school language immersion program. If the past is an indication of her future successes, don't be surprised to see this come to fruition. But Garrett is quick to acknowledge her lifeline of support. "We have incredible parents in this district," she says. "I have never seen such incredible volunteers. If anything, they keep a fire lit under me."
For more information or to make a donation, visit www.lwsf.org or email info@lwsf.org.
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