Updated for the general election
We’re supporting Debbie Carlsen, who brings years of effective advocacy for students and schools, especially LGBTQ+ students, to Seattle Public Schools. Debbie will bring the public back into the management and operation of our public schools, critical during the district’s current budget crisis. The incumbent, Liza Rankin, wants “ruthless” budget cuts that will close as many as 20 schools, and wants it done without sufficient public involvement. We’re voting for Debbie Carlsen, who will make community engagement, transparency, and accountability a priority.
Debbie is endorsed by some of Seattle’s most effective progressive leaders, including City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, former City Council member and mayoral candidate Lorena Gonzalez, the Seattle Education Association, and MLK Labor (the central council for King County’s labor unions). Debbie’s future colleague on the board, Lisa Rivera Smith, has also endorsed Debbie.
Debbie is a nonbinary queer person whose family is neurodivergent, mixed race and LGBTQ+. Debbie brings extensive experience with education advocacy and government operations to the job. Their experience includes serving on the Best Start for Kids Advisory Board, serving on the Seattle Housing Levy Oversight Committee, and on Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.
Debbie is also an educator, teaching early learning. They also taught English as a Second Language at Renton Technical College for 5 years and was a proud union member. Debbie has also been active in their school PTA, is on the executive board of the 46th Democrats as a Co-Policy & Advocacy Chair, and is part of the leadership of the National Women’s Political Caucus as its Fundraising Chair. Debbie also works in the nonprofit sector.
Debbie’s deep political experience has given them plenty of insight about how to improve operations at SPS and manage the district’s financial crisis in ways that help, not hurt, students and families. They want to hire an independent auditor that reports directly to the board so that they can have a good understanding of the financial issues facing SPS, rather than having to rely on the administration’s often flawed or incomplete analysis.
Debbie put it well in their response to a question from KUOW: “Because the district is not transparent with how it spends its dollars, many state legislators, even among the Seattle delegation, do not believe SPS is spending its money wisely. To help daylight the district’s spending, I will support a biennial independent audit of the budget that will be reported directly to the board. This independent budget audit would happen in a timely manner to provide the space for the board to analyze, ask questions, receive answers, and provide feedback to the district.”
Seattle is not as immune from the right-wing attack on LGBTQ+ students as we may think. In July 2023 KOMO news launched an attack on gender-affirming care being offered through wellness centers at Seattle Public Schools. Right-wingers nearly succeeded at gathering signatures to repeal the state’s new law protecting trans kids. Parents report a growing problem with LGBTQ+ kids being bullied at Seattle schools and that the district is failing to properly address it. Carlsen’s experience will help provide much needed leadership for SPS to protect and support kids in an increasingly reactionary time.
Liza Rankin has alienated families across Seattle and especially in District 1 by embracing the district’s top-down decision-making process that excludes families and ignores their concerns. Rankin infuriated families at Ingraham High School after a recent shooting by not quickly or fully responding to concerns about student safety and mental health, and by failing to hold the district administration accountable for their own failures and slow response.
Rankin also was dismissive of families during the October 2023 teacher reshuffle, telling the Seattle Times it was “routine” and has not stepped up to help schools prevent the loss of teachers. Nor has she held district administrators accountable for what has been reported as a clerical or computer error that the district claims caused these reshuffles.
While we admire Liza’s work on ending isolation and restraint in Seattle Public Schools, we find her eagerness to close schools and exclude the public’s voice in district operations disqualifying. Carlsen has also advocated for the needs of children receiving special education services, and does so by putting the community’s needs at the center of the conversation – not at the side.
Rankin made anti-union statements during the 2022 teachers’ strike, claiming that the teachers’ demand for minimum staffing ratios was racist. Minimum staffing ratios are, in fact, a core demand of striking workers, from nurses to Hollywood writers. Progressives do not make anti-union statements like this.
Nor do progressive elected officials work to systematically exclude the public from district operations. Rankin refuses to hold community meetings that are open to anyone, instead only meeting with carefully chosen insiders. District 1 parents have been told by the school district to email the board representative for their geographic region directly, only to get an automatic reply from Rankin that says she does not respond to individual emails.
Rankin is a leading force in pushing the board to cede its power over district operations to the administration and eliminate most regular committee meetings. These changes have the effect of making it difficult for the public to hold board members and administrators accountable and be responsive to community concerns.
We strongly encourage progressives to vote for Debbie Carlsen in District 1.