Education
The following Letters to the Editor were submitted by verified Highline residents.
[NOTE FROM EDITOR: Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Highline Journal or Daniel Media. If you wish to submit a story, photo, article, or letter, please email us at info@thehighlinejournal.com We look forward to hearing from you.]
School Board Testimony: Citizen Contrasts Highline Administrators' Salaries with Poor Results
Oct. 1, 2025
I believe most Highline residents would be shocked by the administrative bloat and high salaries paid to central administrators of the Highline School District. According to 2023-24 statistics found on gov.salaries.com, Highline has over 50 central office administrators, not including principals, who make anywhere from $145,000 to an astonishing $236,000 a year. This doesn’t include the superintendent with an extravagant $339,000 salary.
The average individual income of Burien residents is less than $52,000 a year, according to an internet search assistant, so these central office salaries do not, in any way, match the community in which they serve. Nor are these salaries commensurate with the teachers who are making far less and are doing the real work of educating the children.
I have testified several times regarding central administrators who have very little classroom experience directing teachers with mandated curriculum, procedures, or practices. This interference with the teachers, the true professionals, has shown itself to be a poor business model producing inadequate results. In 2024-25, according to OSPI, only 24% of Highline students met consistent grade-level knowledge in math, for example.
Teachers need to be provided instructional materials and training, but they must have total control to teach to the standards as they see fit without interference. The Highline School Board needs to order the superintendent to reduce the bloated bureaucracy and direct those resources to the classroom where they belong. Displaced administrators can be given the opportunity to choose teaching positions.
-Patricia Bailey
School Board Testimony: Literacy Crisis
October 1, 2025
The motto of the Highline School District is “Every student known by name, strength and need.” Knowing the needs of 18,000 students is a tall order, let alone meeting those needs. Here is a good start: Every student needs to learn to read. How is the district doing on this? Take Mt. Rainier High School, not the worst school in the district. They have a tutoring program for students who are behind in reading skills. I have no idea how many of the high school students are only reading at 7th or 8th grade levels. Thanks, to the inquiries made by former Director, Melissa Petrini before she was hounded out of office, we know how many Mt. Rainier High School students were reading last year at a level between kindergarten and 6th grade: 350!
District-wide, over 50 percent of Highline students are three or more years behind academically. With 350 students at one high school reading between three and twelve years behind grade level, that is enough to keep at least 60 or 70 tutors busy. How many tutors were employed to meet this huge need? Only two!
Believe it or not, the documented deficiencies in reading skills did not take any of these students off track for graduation. When you read or hear of the district boasting of a graduation rate of over 80 per cent, keep in mind, many of those students cannot read their own diplomas. What does it say about a school district graduating some students with only a kindergarten reading level?
This is a genuine educational crisis. It is never mentioned in school board meetings by staff or current Directors. Instead, they routinely pat themselves on the back for one program or another, and focus on how they have fostered a sense of belonging. With a budget of well over 400 million dollars, they can do better.
It’s time for a change in leadership. Vote for new school board directors November 4th.
-Alex Myrick
[NOTE FROM EDITOR: If you wish to submit a story, photo, article or letter, please email us at info@thehighlinejournal.com Even if you wish to remain anonymous, please include your name and phone number so we may contact you privately. We look forward to hearing from you.]
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