Seattle School Board names lone superintendent finalist, a district leader recruited from Michigan

An experienced district leader from Michigan is set to become the next superintendent of Seattle Public Schools.

The Seattle School Board voted 6-0 Wednesday to name Ben Shuldiner as the lone superintendent finalist and authorized the board’s president and vice president to begin contract negotiations. (Board member Sarah Clark was absent.)

The board will vote again at a later date to confirm the hire and approve a negotiated contract.

It’s not yet clear when Shuldiner will take the helm of Seattle Public Schools — that will be finalized as part of contract negotiations. But, in an interview ahead of the board’s vote, Shuldiner said they’re looking at the beginning of 2026.

“Seattle deserves leadership,” Shuldiner told KUOW. “I mean, the energy is palpable here, they want to succeed, they want to do well, and I think I owe it to Seattle to start sooner rather than later.”

Regardless of Shuldiner’s start date, he’ll join Washington’s largest public school district at a pivotal moment, as it faces myriad issues, including an ongoing financial crisis, concerns about school safety, and widespread distrust in the wake of a proposal last year to close over 20 schools that was later scaled back then abandoned entirely after community backlash.

Shuldiner, previously only referred to as “Candidate 7” during the school board’s closed superintendent search, has been an educator for more than 25 years. Over the course of his career, he’s been a classroom teacher, high school principal, education professor, consultant, and most recently, superintendent of the Lansing School District.

The central Michigan district serves just over 10,000 students — less than a quarter of Seattle Public Schools’ enrollment of roughly 50,000. But Shuldiner said Wednesday he believes his experience leading the district since 2021 sets him up for success in Seattle.

While Shuldiner acknowledged Lansing is smaller than the Emerald City, he argued it’s not massively different from Seattle: It’s urban, and it’s diverse, with over 50 languages spoken.

“It is a really amazing panoply of cultures and students and history,” he said. “The most important thing, though, is we’ve moved mountains there. And I know that we can do great work in Seattle.”

Shuldiner touted that, under his leadership, Lansing’s graduation and attendance rates have significantly improved, and the district also saw its first enrollment increase in 30 years. And, beyond student achievement, Shuldiner filled a $20 million budget gap and grew the district’s fund balance to over $40 million.

Plus, before going to Lansing, Shuldiner worked with and in bigger school districts — including New York City’s public school system, the largest in the nation. In 2003, he founded the High School for Public Service, a public school in Brooklyn, New York, and served as principal there for a decade.

Shuldiner also was a lecturer of education leadership at Hunter College, where he led one of the largest school leadership certification programs in the Northeast. In addition, he served on the New York City Board of Education’s Panel for Education Policy, and was also president and executive board member of the New York City High School Principals Association.

“I think that the experiences and the work that I’ve done allows me to feel comfortable in a place of 10,000, a place of a million, and now this kind of perfect place of 50,000,” Shuldiner said. “If there is a meaning to life, I’d like to believe that you can help as many people as you can in this brief time you have on this planet. To be able to help support 50,000 kids … there’s something really special about doing that.”

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Shuldiner will replace former Superintendent Brent Jones, who announced in March that he would leave the district in September — only to go on medical leave in May, and not return for the remainder of his tenure. Fred Podesta, the district’s chief operations officer for over five years, has been serving as interim superintendent since June. He’ll remain in the position until Shuldiner takes over.

The board’s vote on Wednesday caps the district’s fourth superintendent search since 2014.

Unlike most other searches — at SPS and districts across the country — this one was mostly conducted behind closed doors. Board President Gina Topp has said that the confidential search allowed them to attract a stronger pool of applicants, including sitting superintendents, who would not have applied in an open process.

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The search attracted more than 40 applicants. That slate was later whittled down to eight candidates, then to two finalists.

At a board meeting last week, before Shuldiner’s identity was revealed, all seven board members said they were impressed by both of the finalists.

But everyone also agreed that Shuldiner was the standout, and most closely aligned with what the public said it wanted in district’s next superintendent through surveys, community engagement meetings, and focus groups held in the spring and over the summer. The findings were compiled into a leadership profile report, which found the public wanted an “innovative and experienced leader” driven by equity and focused on students.

Board member Joe Mizrahi said at the Oct. 29 meeting that he thought both candidates fit that bill, but Shuldiner stood out in his financial and operational expertise.

“I thought that my preferred candidate spoke with a specificity and clarity on the budget that will be very helpful to the community,” Mizrahi said, adding he also appreciated Shuldiner’s “blunt nature.”

Board member Brandon Hersey echoed those comments, adding that Shuldiner would be ideal for the district because it needs someone “new and different,” but who also has deep knowledge and expertise around school finances and funding.

“My preference for [Shuldiner] has given me a level of solace that I have not experienced in a long time around the leadership of Seattle Public Schools,” Hersey said. “I feel excited. I feel energized. And quite frankly, I’ll be kind of bummed, if that particular candidate doesn’t proceed, that I won’t get a chance to work with them and solve some of these really big problems.”

Shuldiner, too, says he can’t wait to roll up his sleeves in Seattle. In his first 100 days at the district, Shuldiner’s focus will be on getting to know the community and district staff before making any drastic changes.

“There’s a sense of historic distrust between the community and the district and probably including the superintendent,” he said. “We’re all in this together and we have to break down the silos, we have to break down the walls. So those first days are really going to be about learning the community, listening to the community, and helping to support the community.”

Beyond that, Shuldiner has a laundry list of goals for the district over the next few years. Among them: Achieving fiscal solvency, boosting enrollment, lowering chronic absenteeism, and increasing the graduation rate.

“My real goal and I think that all of our real goals should be to create Seattle as the single greatest urban school district in America,” he said. “That’s the goal. Nothing less.”