Edmonds City Council: Question White’s record on school board

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Edmonds City Council candidate Diana White casually mentions in her recent mailer that she is “fiscally responsible.” In fact, regional newspapers and Edmonds citizens disagree.

Diana White’s actions as Edmonds School Board president demonstrate lack of leadership and fiscal management which should disqualify her from serving on the city council. In August of this year, White voted to approve a teacher contract with double-digit pay increases when the district’s own budget projections showed the district would quickly find itself in the red based on that negotiated contract. The result? Teacher layoffs and larger class sizes.

The Seattle Times called out the Edmonds School District specifically when it recognized the dangers of giving teachers these double-digit raises at the volatile time after the education bill in response to McCleary was passed.

She has publicly attempted to justify her actions by blaming state Superintendent Chris Reykdal’s guidance as coming too late. The board should not have needed guidance to recognize that the raises given were unsustainable. It was her responsibility to understand the budget. Candidate White also opined that that the teacher contract was set to expire in eight days and the “wise decision” was to sign off on the contract. Leadership was needed. The board allowed most all of the McCleary money to be allocated to current teachers, without regard to the future, believing taxpayers would pony up once again with more money. Taxpayers deserved to have that money spent wisely.

Lynne Chelius

Edmonds