in 2008, cleveland was one of two high schools included in the southeast initiative, a plan to increase expenditures for three years at schools that parents had fled under the school choice plan. the seattle times school guide reported that cleveland's 2008 on-time graduation rate had been 44%. cleveland's enrollment remained low at 695 students in 2008-2009, 94% of them from minority ethnic groups. few of cleveland's students chose it as their first choice.