Edmonds School Board hears more families push for later start times; discusses budget and cellphone policies

Another wave of families pushed for a later school start time during public comments at Tuesday’s Edmonds School District Board of Directors meeting.

During the public comment period, which lasted more than an hour, Oak Heights Elementary parent Emily DiPerna said the District’s community survey on start times as “woefully inadequate.”

“If you had simply asked one question and allowed one single response, your data would have been much more accurate,” she said. “Asking one question, ‘Do you support helping teenagers have a later start time?’ probably would have seen overwhelming support. Asking a second question, ‘Do you support 7:20 start times for elementary schools?’ would have revealed that there is no support for this.”

She also said the sample was biased toward families whose children would benefit from the change, leaving future kindergarteners’ families without a say. 

“Would you submit to a new survey with more clear language and more direct questions about the outcomes of this decision?” DiPerna asked.

Parent Ben Chen, whose child attends Terrace Park Elementary, said adopting a 7:20 a.m. start time would put Edmonds School District “far outside the norm” compared to other developed countries. He listed as examples the following elementary school start times:

• Canada: 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m.
• U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Finland: 8:45 a.m. to 9 a.m.
• Japan: 8:15 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
• South Korea: 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m.
• France: 8:20 a.m. and 8:40 a.m.

Chen said Germany is the “lone exception,” stating that 8 million to 9 million elementary school students started their days as early as 7 to 7:30 a.m. While there is no citation to that claim, the travel site How To Germany states that typical start times in German public schools are 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.

Lynnwood City Councilmember Derica Escamilla said few BIPOC people talk about school start times because “they’re surviving,” referring to a recent six-year sentence handed to a 19-year-old man who shot and killed two teenagers in 2022 at Spruce Park in Lynnwood. The shooter was 15 at the time.

“You guys, this year is to make the hard decisions,” she said. “I don’t have solutions, but I can’t be fighting for my life and advocating to build third places if we aren’t fixing the foundation of our kids here.”

Other speakers include District paraeducators who advocated for higher pay. 

Alderwood Middle School paraeducator Christopher Bottman said 92% of paraeducators are women in the U.S., according to the National Education Association. He said the job has historically been treated as a secondary income source. He described how his mother, a longtime paraeducator in the District, could not cover a mortgage and basic bills after his father’s business failed and his father later died, even with adult children moving home to help.

“I’m not asking you to help on my behalf, but on the behalf of mothers,” Bottman said. 

Donna Morin, a paraeducator at Alderwood Early Childhood Center, said there is a mismatch between the level of training and pay. She said most preschool paraeducators have state-required Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) training plus at least 28 initial credit hours – with an additional 42 credit hours for general certificates, special education or advanced training. 

Morin said many still must work second jobs or substitute on Fridays “to be able to pay the bills.” 

Alderwood Middle School paraeducator Melissa Duits said level-one paraeducators in 2025-26 earn $28.75 an hour for six paid hours a day over 194 days for a total of $33,465 a year – or about $2,788 a month. After deductions, she said the take-home pay is $2,090. 

“Can you live and work in Edmonds School District on $2,090 a month?” she asked.

Duits also described being hit in the face by a student twice on the last day of school.

“How many of your average work days include potential for physical harm or permanent disability…all while not making a living wage?” she said.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, paraeducators and teachers assistants earn a national average of $35,240 per year with a -1% decrease in growth as of 2024.

2026-27 budget

During the 2026-27 Edmonds School District budget presentation, Finance Director Lydia Sellie said the District’s total budgeted revenue is slightly more than $470 million, mostly from state apportionment, local levies and a small federal share of about 4% each year. Expenditures are slightly under revenues.

Sellie anticipated an enrollment decline of 233 students next year, but the District is seeing growing needs in lower grades that are driving “a considerable increase” for special education teachers and paraeducators. There is also a sharp increase in risk-pool insurance premiums. Enrollment is expected to “level out” for the 2027-28 and 2028-29 school years, she said.

Regarding insurance costs, the Edmonds School District faces a 51% increase ($2.6 million) in premiums, according to school officials.

Sellie reported a 2.6% increase in the implicit price deflator (IPD), which is an inflationary metric that the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) applies to salary allocations. She said for every percent that the state requires the District to pass the IPD, it costs the District $1.1 million.

While OSPI applies IPD to their funded amounts, the District applies it to actual staff salaries, which exceed the amount funded by OSPI,” Director of Budget & Finance Chris Cullison told My Edmonds News. “Across the whole District, IPD being applied to the greater amount results in salary increases that exceed funding by roughly $1.1 million per percent of IPD.”

On a positive note, Sellie said that higher interest rates are generating about $450,000 in investment earnings. “Which is great, but remember that’s on a $470 million budget,” she said.

Legislative update: cellphone bans

Board Director Thom Garrard reported that the last statewide Action Advocacy Network from the Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA) focused on K-12 cellphone policies, following Gov. Bob Ferguson’s decision to make the issue a priority. Garrard said about 75% of Washington school districts already have some form of policy, ranging from strict “bell-to-bell” bans to rules similar to Edmonds’ approach, in which phones are restricted in class but allowed at lunch. 

Garrard said the OSPI is expected to circulate a draft bill within the next few days. Advocates are debating whether the state should simply require or incentivize local cellphone use policies or try to dictate what the policy is. 

He noted that presenters from Stand for Children and WSSDA shared research showing students are less distracted when phones are out of the classroom entirely.

Garrard added that three of the 70 WSSDA statewide legislative position proposals related to cellphones in schools will be released July 1. He said he will seek Board input on how Edmonds School District should vote on them at the September legislative conference.

Other agenda items

The School Board unanimously approved a $12.6 million districtwide boiler upgrades project, awarding the contract to Progressive Design-Build team of Andersen Construction of Seattle.

Funded through the District’s 2024 bond and 2021 and 2024 levies, the project will replace or upgrade boilers at 13 District sites.

The Board also passed Resolution 2610 to refinance bonds. Board President Nancy Katims noted the savings will total more than $1 million.

The full meeting can be viewed on the Edmonds School District website.