What is this?
This is a list of analyses and articles that are data driven and interesting. Some come from folks who participate in this site and others are just interesting. Items tagged AI are dashboards generated with the help of Claude (Anthropic) from public OSPI/SPS data — verify before citing. If you find something work listing or what your thing listed here, email us at sps.by.the.number [at] gmail.com.
Finances
The 31% No One Talks About
Manufacturing a Deficit: Why we always have 100m in the bank but keep having to cut staff
Cracking the Budget #1: Chronic Underspend
Expenditure Flows (Sankey)
Interactive Sankey diagrams tracing 2024–2025 SPS actual expenditures through OSPI classifications: source → program → activity → object (and further to school or NCES category).
Transportation
Well-Resource School Fiasco
Recalculated: “Fab-4” School Closure Savings — it’s small
SPS proposed school closures are inequitable
Anti Asian bias in Seattle School leadership and advocacy community
Staffing + Enrollment
Data on Actual vs Projected enrollment in Seattle Public Schools
The Ratio Problem: Where Seattle’s Schools Fall Short
Facts Matter: SPS Enrollment Much Higher Now Than The 2000s
SPS Policies that Harm High-Poverty Students: Structural and Institutional Racism within Seattle Public Schools
I’ll say it louder for the folks in the back: SPS — your enrollment and staffing policies are racist!