(The Center Square) – Emotions are running high for some families in the Seattle School District after last week’s Seattle School Board vote to close 20 elementary schools. Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones says the closures are needed to free up funding within the $1.17 billion budget for the contract he signed with the Seattle Education Association in 2022. In the fall of that year, Seattle teachers went on a five-day strike and ultimately secured a 7% pay increase for union members that school year, which included a state-funded 5.5% inflationary adjustment. The contract…