Lawsuits over Seattle school-closure plan obstruct benefits for all students

WASHINGTON law allows those who feel wronged by school boards or school officials to seek legal recourse.

The statute gives legal cover to the four lawsuits filed this week against the Seattle School District over its school-closures plan. But it does not hide their lack of substance.

The suits are separate but all carry a similar theme. The district's plan to close five buildings and move around programs falls squarely on the shoulders of poor children and students of color.

From a statistical standpoint, this is true. Students of color make up nearly 60 percent of the district's 46,000-student population. In the South End, where most of the schools affected by the closures are located, minority students are 72 percent of the population.

Not a single systemic change could be made that wouldn't impact these kids.

When it comes to government, the public must have a route to appeal, and in the case of harm, seek remedy. But a foundation held up by taxpayers has a high threshold. Nuisance lawsuits and those that seek not to remedy, but to obstruct, should be swiftly ferreted out and dismissed.

When the district decided to close schools, it was tfaced with flat enrollment and too many schools, many underenrolled. It was also facing a $24 million deficit.

The question isn't whether the plan affects these children to a greater extent, but whether that effect is an adverse one. Or as one of the suits contends, if the plan is arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law. If the plan results in better-resourced schools, more successful students and district efficiencies that free up the money to pay for it, those children are being singled out for something good.

Lawyers behind the current round of lawsuits will have to prove otherwise, largely by betting that students involved in the closures won't emerge successfully and in better academic shape.

This page bets just the opposite.

The last closures process brought with it lawsuits. Those were beaten back. Time to do it again.