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What problem is the SPS schedule mandate solving, if any?

Update

September 12, 2026

Thanks to all who organized and contacted the school district. We appreciate that Seattle Public Schools responded and sent families an email confirming the mandated instruction and recess minutes. Superintendent Shuldiner also discussed the policy on KUOW’s Soundside.

What we know

The district confirmed that a notice was issued mandating 30 minutes of recess. Schools may submit a schedule waiver “that allow for additional recess time provided they can continue to meet all required instructional expectations.” However, the instructional minutes add up to 340 minutes out of a 390-minute day — so with a 20-minute lunch, there is no scenario in which a waiver would be possible.

The email outlines all the schedule expectations with particular emphasis on needing 120 minutes for ELA. Yet teachers report 120 minutes was always the expectation, never doing less than 90 minutes depending on the grade. The time lost in that 120-minute block is the other 30 minutes of “flex time” — used for small group, independent reading, or intervention time for those needing additional support.

Which leaves us wondering: where is the research to support adding 45–75 minutes of instructional time while capping recess at 30 minutes, the minimum requirement?

What we want to know
  • What problem is this mandate solving, and why is it necessary across K–5? State law, pediatric research, the district’s own board policy and a coming OSPI rule on lunch all point the other way. What is the purpose of a blanket policy that moves against all of that?
  • SPS confirmed 75% of schools were already not exceeding 30 minutes — before the curriculum. Rather than bring 25% of schools down to the minimum, has the district examined the 75% of schools at the minimum to determine if that baseline is the appropriate amount of recess?

Our ask

  1. Cancel this mandate until a research-backed plan is presented, and allow the community to respond.
  2. Increase the recess minimum across all elementary schools.
    What we know

    Washington law requires a minimum of 30 minutes for recess and encourages districts to exceed it. But Washington is not best in class. Three states now have laws requiring 40 minutes of recess.

    Tennessee’s law for 40 minutes passed unanimously in 2025.

    Oklahoma doubled its requirement to 40 in 2026, passing the Senate 44–0 and the House 86–1.

    Arkansas has required 40 minutes since 2022, defining recess as supervised, unstructured social time.

    While 40 minutes is the most any American state requires, it is still less than children receive in Finland, England or Japan, just to name a few.

  3. Exclude kindergarten from districtwide schedule mandates.
    What we know

    A kindergarten schedule is supposed to be fluid and to change across the year. If the district believes a fixed schedule is right for other grades, present the research that validates it grade by grade.

    OSPI’s Washington State Full-Day Kindergarten Guide publishes two sample schedules — one for the beginning of the year and one for the end — because a five-year-old in September is not the same learner as the same child in May. It caps whole-group instruction at 20 to 30 minutes, separates sedentary work with active time, and builds in substantially more recess and student-directed time than the mandate allows.

  4. Bring any districtwide schedule mandate to the school board for a public vote and adopt it into board policy.
    What we know

    Despite efforts in 2014, a cap to recess time has returned, without a board vote. Under RCW 28A.150.230 the board is accountable for the proper operation of the district whether or not it acts through administrative staff. Policies that affect all children should be discussed and adopted in the public forum.

A mandate that shapes every elementary child’s day should be adopted in public, on the record, with evidence families can read.

If you agree that scheduling mandates should be backed by research and voted on by the school board, email SPS.

Email SPS: mandates should be backed by research

Why this matters

POINT 1

Washington’s legal minimum for recess is 30 minutes. We still think it isn’t enough.

Washington's recess law took effect in 2024. It says recess should not be withheld to compel students to complete academic work. The law's intent is also clearly stated: the legislature intends to set a minimum requirement for daily recess to ensure that all students have equal access to recess, but school districts are encouraged to exceed this requirement.

Increasing recess time is gaining traction and three states now require 40 minutes a day. Every guideline that has looked at this lands well above 30, and while California’s requirement is 30 minutes of recess, they do have a 15 minute requirement on early release days.

WhereRequired daily
Tennesseemust include unstructured outdoor play — PE, screens and transitions do not count40 min
Oklahomadoubled from 20 this year, passed 86–140 min
Arkansasschools report high compliance40 min
Seattle Public Schoolsset as a maximum — a waiver is required to exceed it30 min

Instructional hours went up by 15% – 28% from last year (45–75 minutes)

This is one example. Schools have not all reported the same schedule — ask your principal what your school is running. Submit feedback on schedule changes at your school to spsforkids@gmail.com

Daily minutesLast yearThis yeardistrict mandateChange
Reading & writing curriculum90120+30
Flexible independent reading & writing timeused for extra support or reading activities300−30
Mathematics7590+15
Science or social studiesnow both, every day4578+33
Social & Emotional2020—
Art/Music/PE/Library3532−3
Instructional minutes295340+45
Lunch2020—
Recess4530−15
Passing periodswalking, lining up, bathrooms150−15
Pack up & dismissal15not listed−15
Total390390
POINT 2

Pediatric research proves kids need a lot of time to move and play during the school day

The brain stores new information in fragile traces that need strengthening. Physical movement during the day helps consolidate those memories and helps with information processing, attention and long-term memory. It is part of how the lesson sticks.

Recess time is essential for school success, and redirecting it to expand classroom time will actually hinder learning.

Free play that children choose for themselves supports creative thinking and problem solving, which structured movement breaks do not replace — and children from low-income families and racial and ethnic minority groups are more likely to have recess withheld, which makes misbehavior more likely rather than less.

POINT 3

Cutting recess also cuts lunch

At most Seattle elementary schools, recess and lunch are one block. The recess mandate reduces lunch time because the new schedule does not include transition time: no time is allotted for walking to the playground and back, lining up, using the bathroom, or washing hands.

And this year the line got longer. Free meals began in September for every SPS student — which is great news for families, but increases the time in line. Staff is reporting the lunch line takes 2x – 3x longer this year. With Seattle parents already reporting lunch was too short, are kids getting enough time to eat?

We lose at least five minutes after every recess, often seven or eight, sometimes ten. It is not only the walk back — it is the shuffle to line up, helping a child with big emotions, sorting out a playground conflict, comforting someone who is crying. A Seattle teacher
POINT 4

OSPI and the district’s own policy protect time to eat lunch

The Washington State Auditor documented exactly this. In a 2019 performance audit of 31 elementary schools, auditors found nearly all of them failed to give every student the recommended 20 minutes of seated lunchtime, and that principals mostly did not realize how little time their students actually had.

The time scheduled for lunch differs from the time actually available to sit and eat it, sometimes significantly. Washington State Auditor, performance audit 1024471, 2019

The state is moving the other way. Beginning in the 2029–30 school year, schools must give students in grades K–5 at least 20 minutes to eat once the students have received their food through the meal service line. Twenty minutes seated, after the line — not twenty minutes that includes it.

Put that against the district's own numbers. The school day is 390 minutes. The required content minutes total 340. That leaves 50 minutes for lunch and recess combined.

School day390 min
Required content minutes−340 min
Left for lunch and recess50 min
Eating time OSPI will require−20 min
Estimated time in line−10 min
Total time left for recess20 min
POINT 5

Why should 120 minutes be fully allocated to curriculum only?

When asked to explain the policy, the superintendent said the district’s new K–5 reading curriculum is 120 minutes, so the district has to find those 120 minutes. After that is subtracted, everything must work around that.

Why must a full 120 minutes be dedicated to curriculum? And what replaces the flexible ELA time that was used for independent reading, small group work and specialist support? What about children with IEPs — what other time will they now have to miss?

POINT 6

The same schedule should not apply to every grade — especially kindergarten

Washington’s kindergarten guide outlines appropriate schedules for those entering kindergarten, and how that schedule should shift over the school year to prepare them for first grade.

Kindergarten dayStatebeginning of yearStateend of yearSPSmandate
Recess40 min50+ min30 min
Student-directed centres65 min40 minnone
Longest literacy block55 min60 min120 min
Math40 minafternoon45 minmorning90 min
Specialists45 minend of day45 minend of day32 minmid-day

We are asking the school district to, at a minimum, remove the mandate immediately for kindergarten.

Take action

This is not a new fight

Seattle parents already won this fight, in 2014. The district tried to implement this once before, and SPS advocates organized, got substantial media coverage, and pushed both the district and the state to act. Advocates in that fight aimed for 40 to 45 minutes and considered 30 too low a floor.

The result: the district stopped limiting schools from giving more than 30 minutes of recess a day. Many schools then offered more.

These policies should not be subject to the whim of a Superintendent. Once we resolve them, we write them into policy so that we don't have to have the same fights once everyone who went through it the first time has moved on with their lives. Robert Cruickshank, Seattle advocate in 2014, parent and education writer
How can I help?

Email the Superintendent and SPS Board

Two options:

1 — Use the email form below. Add your name and email.
2 — Send and/or edit the message yourself by copying the addresses and message below.

Email SPS

Your name and email are used only to send this message so the district can see it came from a real family. We do not store or share them.

Sent. Thank you.
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Or send it yourself — recipients

liza.rankin@seattleschools.org, gktopp@seattleschools.org, jllavallee@seattleschools.org, eybriggs@seattleschools.org, jemizrahi@seattleschools.org, kesmith2@seattleschools.org, vsmaritz@seattleschools.org, jamercer@seattleschools.org, jkconte@seattleschools.org, rskido@seattleschools.org, jbhendrickso@seattleschools.org

Subject: What problem is the elementary schedule mandate solving?

Dear School Board and Executive Directors,

Thank you for the letter outlining the schedule expectations sent to our elementary schools. I am an SPS advocate sending a form email as part of an organized effort, because a lot of us care about this. I ask that you read it through once.

It is unclear what problem this mandate is solving. Recess and lunch time is already too short in elementary schools — so wouldn’t it be a better impact to examine the 75% of schools already at 30 minutes to determine if this is an appropriate baseline for recess time?

Our ask

1. Cancel this mandate until a research-backed plan is presented, and allow the community to respond. It was issued without notice to families and without a board vote.

2. Increase the recess minimum across all elementary schools. Each school’s population mix varies, and a minimum gives schools the flexibility for accommodations rather than taking it away. RCW 28A.230.295 calls 30 minutes a floor and encourages districts to exceed it. Tennessee moved to 40 minutes a day in 2025 and Oklahoma doubled its requirement to 40 in 2026, both almost unanimously.

3. Exclude kindergarten from districtwide schedule mandates. OSPI’s Full-Day Kindergarten Guide publishes two sample schedules, as Kindergartners transition into getting ready for 1st grade. The current mandate gives K a 120-minute literacy block — the same schedule as 5th graders.

4. Bring any districtwide schedule mandate to the school board for a public vote and adopt it into board policy. A policy that impacts every elementary school child should be discussed and adopted in public, with evidence families can read.

The research we’d like to see

The mandate rests on a premise we have not seen defended: that more instructional time produces better outcomes. We are not asking for reassurance. We are asking for evidence that addresses:

Why must a full 120 minutes be dedicated to curriculum? And what replaces the flexible ELA time that was used for independent reading, small group work and specialist support? What about children with IEPs — what other time will they now have to miss?

Do children have enough time to eat? Recess and lunch are one block: this mandate does not allow for transition time or standing in the lunch line. Additionally, WAC 392-157-125 states that by 2029–30 schools must give K–5 students at least 20 minutes to eat — after they clear the serving line. These schedules will have to be rebuilt regardless.

Thank you for your work and for putting our students first.

[Your name]

Sources

How much recess children should get

Law and policy

This schedule change

Email SPS: mandates should be backed by research