The Highline Public Schools Board of Directors voted unanimously on Wednesday, Aug. 19 to send a letter to the Port of Seattle calling for stronger protections and greater investment in schools and communities affected by plans to expand Sea-Tac Airport.

The board approved submitting the letter during its regular Aug. 19 meeting, according to information from Highline Public Schools.

Residents have until 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, to submit comments to the Port of Seattle on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Sea-Tac Airport’s Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) Near Term Projects.

“Our students are the future of this region. Their health, safety and education should not be the price of regional growth,” the board wrote in the letter. “If the airport grows, the investment in the people living with its impacts must grow with it.”

In the letter, board members said Highline students and families already face significant effects from living and learning near the airport and under aircraft flight paths. The board urged the Port of Seattle and other regional decision-makers to ensure airport growth does not add burdens on students and communities without addressing existing impacts.

Highline is the only school district with schools located in the area identified in the airport’s environmental review as potentially affected by the proposed expansion, according to the district. The Port has invested in sound insulation at some Highline schools, but the district said other schools still need those protections.

The board is calling for commitments that include completing sound insulation at all affected Highline schools, investing in ventilation and air filtration, monitoring air quality at schools and in nearby neighborhoods, reducing traffic impacts on students and families, ensuring impacted communities have decision-making power, and fully delivering and regularly evaluating commitments already made by the Port.

“Our students need classrooms where they can hear their teachers, breathe clean air and learn without constant disruption,” the board wrote. “Noise, traffic, construction and air pollution may seem like separate issues, but together they shape the conditions that define daily life for students and families in Highline.”

The board also said investment must extend beyond school buildings to the cities, neighborhoods and families closest to the airport.

“Regional growth should bring regional benefits,” the letter states. “It should not shift a greater share of the costs onto the communities already bearing them.”

Full Text of Letter

Below is full text of the letter from Highline Public Schools Board of Directors:

RE: SEATTLE-TACOMA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT EXPANSION 

“As members of the Highline Public Schools Board of Directors, we are entrusted by our community to advocate for our students and protect the education they deserve. That responsibility is especially urgent as plans for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport expansion move forward. 

“Our students already carry an unequal share of the airport’s impacts. Expanding the airport without stronger protections and greater investment will only deepen that burden. Growth is not sustainable when it asks children and families to absorb more while their health and well-being go unprotected. 

“In Highline, these impacts are already felt in our schools. Our schools are where children learn, families connect, and communities build belonging. Across South King County and in Highline, families already face some of the greatest gaps in health and life expectancy, and those burdens fall hardest on communities of color and lower-income families. Children are among the most vulnerable to the environmental conditions that shape those outcomes. 

“Our students need classrooms where they can hear their teachers, breathe clean air, and learn without constant disruption. Noise, traffic, construction, and air pollution may seem like separate issues, but together they shape the conditions that define daily life for students and families in Highline. 

“Highline is the only school district with schools in the area identified in the airport’s environmental review as potentially affected by the expansion. Our students already learn under aircraft flight paths, and not all our schools have the sound protections they need. The Port has invested in sound insulation at some Highline schools, but others still need that protection. The impacts are not hypothetical. Expanding the airport without addressing them first would only add to the burden Highline schools are already carrying. 

“Investment in the airport should be matched by investment in the schools, cities, and communities that carry its impacts. Before expansion proceeds, decision-makers must fulfill outstanding commitments and establish clear, enforceable protections for the future. 

“This means completing sound insulation at all affected Highline schools, investing in ventilation and air filtration for healthy classrooms, and monitoring air quality at schools and in surrounding neighborhoods. It also means reducing traffic impacts on students and families, and ensuring impacted communities have real decision-making power so they can shape their own future, not simply respond to decisions made for them. 

“Commitments already made by the Port must be fully delivered and regularly evaluated, and that accountability must reach beyond school walls. The cities, neighborhoods, and families living closest to the airport deserve sustained investment too. Regional growth should bring regional benefits. It should not shift a greater share of the costs onto the communities already bearing them. 

“Our students are the future of this region. Their health, safety, and education should not be the price of regional growth. If the airport grows, the investment in the people living with its impacts must grow with it. 

“The Highline Public Schools Board of Directors listed below approved submitting this letter to the Port of Seattle at the Regular School Board Meeting on August 19, 2026. 

“Joe Van, President
“Angelica Alvarez, Vice President
“Dr. Damarys Espinnoza
“Blaine Holien
“Stephanie Tidholm“