BUILDING FOR EQUITY, PROVIDING FOR GENTRIFICATION: A CASE STUDY OF BEX FUNDING IMPACTS ON SOUTH SEATTLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

This descriptive case study explores the impacts of school funding through Seattle’s Building Excellence Capital Levies (BEX). As Southeast Seattle Public Schools receive a 62.5% increase in capital funding, with the addition of an equity measure to the allocation of the 2019 BEX V levy, this study explores potential impacts to an area widely represented by nondominant communities. Two pairs of elementary schools, a funded and neighboring school, were selected from BEX IV (Southwest) and BEX V funding (Southeast). The study found that overall enrollment increased at funded sites and decreased at neighboring schools. Despite overall shifts, all sites demonstrated decreased enrollment for students of color and increased white student enrollment. The case study challenges if schools selected under an equity measure, ultimately enroll the students the measure was constructed to serve.