Highline Says Port Must Deliver. Port Says Mitigation Money Is Waiting.

Highline wants the Port to fulfill its commitments to local schools. But the Port says remaining sound-insulation money is available and Highline leads decisions about when projects move forward.

Updated story 5:29pm August 20:
Highline Schools Communications Department's response was added after original publication time. Port Commissioner Ryan Calkins' staff responded before publication.

The Highline School Board is asking the Port of Seattle to fulfill commitments to protect students from airport noise and pollution. But when it comes to unfinished school sound insulation, the Port says it isn't holding back the money.

On Aug. 19, the School Board approved a letter to the Port as part of the Sustainable Airport Master Plan Draft Environmental Impact Statement, or SAMP DEIS. Public comment closed today, Aug. 20, at 5 p.m.

“Commitments already made by the Port must be fully delivered,” the Board wrote.

The letter asks for completion of sound insulation at affected schools, along with stronger protections involving air quality, ventilation, filtration and traffic.

Before the letter was read, Director Damarys Espinoza said the Board has a duty to advocate for the Port to invest in Highline schools and “do right by their commitments that they have made to our students and schools.”

A $100 million agreement, 25 years later

The Port and FAA committed $100 million for sound insulation at 15 Highline schools under an agreement dating back to 2002.

Today, 11 of the 15 projects are complete.

So is the Port holding back money?

According to the Port, no.

“The remaining funding is still available,” a representative from Port Commissioner Ryan Calkins’ office told The Highline Journal Thursday.

The Port says it meets quarterly with Highline to discuss the district’s capital redevelopment plans. Projects have typically been coordinated with school construction, with the Port and FAA reimbursing Highline for eligible costs as projects move forward.

Highline, according to the Port, takes the lead on timing.

“They are the lead on how best to spend the monies and when is the best time to address each school’s needs,” Calkins’ office said.

That lines up with Port records from 2020, when staff told commissioners the remaining Highline projects were “completely dependent on the district’s construction schedule.”

At that time, nine projects had been completed for about $67.7 million, with approximately $32.4 million identified for six remaining projects.

Three schools still waiting

The Port confirmed that Pacific Middle School is one of the four remaining projects. The newly rebuilt Pacific is expected to open in September 2027, leaving three other projects still to be identified.

Airport Expansion Debate Shifts From Opposition to Mitigation

Airport committees in Burien and Des Moines are racing to organize public input, seek mitigation funding and request a hearing before July 21.

The Highline JournalKatie Kresly

The Port’s response raises new questions for Highline.

If the money remains available, which three projects are still waiting? When does Highline plan to complete them? And can students receive sound mitigation now rather than waiting for their schools to eventually be rebuilt?

There is also a question looking forward. As Highline plans future school construction, what Port or FAA assistance could be available for noise mitigation? And what additional resources could be pursued for the air-quality, ventilation and filtration improvements the Board is now requesting?

The Highline Journal has asked Highline Public Schools for answers and will update this developing story when the district responds.

Full Letter from Highline School Board to Port of Seattle:

Letter from Highline Public Schools Board of Directors
Re: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Expansion

As members of the Highline Public Schools Board of Directors, we are entrusted by our community to advocate for our students and protect the education they deserve. That responsibility is especially urgent as plans for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport expansion move forward.

Our students already carry an unequal share of the airport's impacts. Expanding the airport without stronger protections and greater investment will only deepen that burden. Growth is not sustainable when it asks children and families to absorb more while their health and well-being go unprotected.

In Highline, these impacts are already felt in our schools. Our schools are where children learn, families connect, and communities build belonging. Across South King County and in Highline, families already face some of the greatest gaps in health and life expectancy, and those burdens fall hardest on communities of color and lower-income families. Children are among the most vulnerable to the environmental conditions that shape those outcomes.

Our students need classrooms where they can hear their teachers, breathe clean air, and learn without constant disruption. Noise, traffic, construction, and air pollution may seem like separate issues, but together they shape the conditions that define daily life for students and families in Highline.

Highline is the only school district with schools in the area identified in the airport's environmental review as potentially affected by the expansion. Our students already learn under aircraft flight paths, and not all our schools have the sound protections they need. The Port has invested in sound insulation at some Highline schools, but others still need that protection. The impacts are not hypothetical. Expanding the airport without addressing them first would only add to the burden Highline schools are already carrying.

Investment in the airport should be matched by investment in the schools, cities, and communities that carry its impacts. Before expansion proceeds, decision-makers must fulfill outstanding commitments and establish clear, enforceable protections for the future.

This means completing sound insulation at all affected Highline schools, investing in ventilation and air filtration for healthy classrooms, and monitoring air quality at schools and in surrounding neighborhoods. It also means reducing traffic impacts on students and families, and ensuring impacted communities have real decision-making power so they can shape their own future, not simply respond to decisions made for them.

Commitments already made by the Port must be fully delivered and regularly evaluated, and that accountability must reach beyond school walls. The cities, neighborhoods, and families living closest to the airport deserve sustained investment too. Regional growth should bring regional benefits. It should not shift a greater share of the costs onto the communities already bearing them.

Our students are the future of this region. Their health, safety, and education should not be the price of regional growth. If the airport grows, the investment in the people living with its impacts must grow with it.

The Highline Public Schools Board of Directors listed below approved submitting this letter to the Port of Seattle at the Regular School Board Meeting on August 19, 2026.

Highline Public Schools Board of Directors
Approved and Signed August 19, 2026

UPDATE: Highline Public Schools responds

Added Aug. 20 after initial publication

Highline Public Schools Chief Communications Officer Tove Tupper provided the following statement after publication:

Under a 2002 agreement, the Port and FAA committed to fund sound insulation for eligible Highline Schools as those schools are rebuilt. The Port has honored that commitment for every eligible school Highline has been able to rebuild.

The challenge is that Washington does not provide state funding to build new schools, so Highline relies primarily on voter-approved bonds. We have had to prioritize a series of bonds since 2002, which means some eligible schools are still waiting to access the committed funds.

The three schools remain: the two older building at Puget Sound Skills Center, Beverly Park Elementary and Hilltop Elementary.

Highline staff have now asked the Port to provide funding for interim sound insulation improvements at those three schools rather than requiring students and staff to wait until the buildings are eventually rebuilt. We also asked that this interim investment not replace the existing commitment to provide sound insulation when those schools are ultimately reconstructed.