Look… school’s bad. Parents mad. Kids sad. We fund our schools back-asswardly and we’re, unsurprisingly, looking toward a $94 million budget deficit in Seattle Public Schools next year. They’ve faced nearly $100 million deficits three years in a row. To combat that, the geniuses on the school board debated closing a cool 21 schools last year, spawning months of big, tearful, apoplectic (and justified), public outcry. The board then did not close the schools, but the threat still looms. Parents are still angry, and distrust the board. Enrollment in SPS is down. So, who the fuck is going to fix this?

In this race, the choice is clear as day. Joe Mizrahi, long-time secretary-treasurer and co-executive director of UFCW 3000, can do it. He is as qualified for it as his hair is tall. Mizrahi has experience working with complicated and deep budgets. He’s a labor guy fixated on what teachers need. He’s also an SPS parent and the incumbent.

Mizrahi stepped into the role last spring when two school board members resigned over residency issues, and he’d like a full term to really effect change.

Mizrahi is against closing the schools. He’s against austerity budgeting, and recognizes that the only way out of this Sisyphean ordeal of never-ending budget deficits is to lobby the legislature for progressive revenue. Mizrahi has a long résumé full of organizing for causes like the $15 minimum wage, paid sick leave and family leave. He’s wonky, passionate as hell, and will be a force fighting for better funding at the state level.

When it comes to more tangible schools stuff, we of the SECB trust Mizrahi’s takes. He wants open enrollment for option schools to attract and retain SPS students and clear waitlists. He’s already thinking about protecting undocumented students from ICE raids. He’s a champion of trans youth at a time when their right to exist and their right to privacy, are under attack.

And gosh, he is charming from the tip of his Jimmy Neutron hair to the fresh basket of apples he brought—SIKE. They weren’t apples. They were cake. That’s right, Mizrahi is probably the only guy who stuck to his COVID cake dupes hobby. That commitment to “Is it cake?” shows the dedication that runs through Mizrahi. Also, the cake was delicious. (He did place fourth at a cake convention once, but first place in our hearts.) Vote Mizrahi.