By failing to honor bus-stop deal, Seattle Public Schools risks student safety

As students prepare to return to school, their safety should be a priority along with a high-quality education.

That’s why Seattle Public Schools should immediately find a partner to help enforce an important traffic law that motorists sometimes ignore when they approach school buses.

When drivers follow or approach a school bus with its stop-sign paddle extended, state law requires them to stop. Stopping traffic in both directions makes it safer for students to board or exit the bus.

The law is pretty simple, but enforcement hasn’t been, mainly due to finances.

Six years ago, SPS buses were equipped with cameras used to capture the license plate numbers of motorists who blow past the stop paddle. For years, SPS and the King County Prosecutor’s Office worked under a contract to make sure violators pay a hefty fine for endangering children. At $500 per ticket, the idea was to make such carelessness or callousness a onetime offense. While most motorists paid what they owed, SPS didn’t pay what it owed the county.

King County Prosecutor’s Office officials told The Seattle Times editorial board they never got a dollar from SPS over the course of the contract. Under the contract, for each $500 ticket issued by Seattle police and contested by a motorist, SPS was to pay the prosecutor’s office $59.13 to represent the district in court. The remainder of the fine would be split between SPS and the court. Prosecutor’s office officials estimate that the average amount owed to them was roughly $10,000 a year.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Police Department would not say if it is issuing citations for drivers who ignore the bus stop signs.

When the contract ended in August 2022, the prosecutor’s office realigned its budget priorities to handle a backlog and uptick in criminal cases. It eliminated the positions needed to handle SPS’ cases.

So why did the county go years without being paid? A spokesman said the office kept its end of the deal in trust that the school district would one day pay what was owed. The SPS would not say why it did not pay the prosecutor’s office.

Without the hammer of enforcement, the district, with a $131 million budget deficit, could lose about $1 million a year in revenue. 

The district is now in talks with the city attorney’s office to handle the civil cases. City Attorney Ann Davison will have her hands full should gross misdemeanor drug possession and public use cases land with her office, as expected. That makes it even more imperative that SPS use part of the millions it collects to compensate those who represent it in court. 

The safety of children in the district should come first. Spending $59.13 out of $500 each time a motorist endangers a child is a bargain. SPS needs to realign its priorities.